Chapter Text
Riz sat back and admired his work. He had just connected the red string from the Yorbalith Temple in Runekeep to the Red Waste on his mobile conspiracy board. All the riddles and half translated prophecies and ancient tomes he and Adaine had poured through was paying off. After the Yorby priest stupidly gave him the cypher to decode the Yorbonomicon all the pieces fell into place.
This is why Riz loves adventuring. Solving the case no one else could. Finding a way to steal back the literal day by cracking puzzles no one living knew the answers to. Laughing and fighting and crying and throwing sea creature themed parties with his friends. He was going to be riding this high for the rest of the night.
Riz stifles a laugh at his own terrible joke but makes a note to tell Balthazar and Duggan later.
The Hangvan hits a bump in the carved stone road and Riz is pulled from his thoughts.
The Bad Kids were on an ancient path descending the Mountains of Chaos. The Choir of Unending Night had the ritual circle to summon the Night Yorb hidden in a cathedral at the peak of Havok Volcano, and with the help of their new friend Ecaf, they knew how to reverse the effect into a dimensional capture sigil. They just had to rescue Fabian from the Light Hunter in the Baronies, head to the Yorbalith Temple to pick up the Night Yorb’s trail, and corner it in the Red Waste. The end of the NIght Yorb’s reign of darkness. The end of the Yorbies menacing the denizens of Solace. The end of the best summer Riz had ever had.
Riz frowns at the thought. He knew this 3rd round of saving the world was taking much longer than the other 2, but it felt by far the shortest. It was weeks of doing what he loved the most in with some of the people he loved the most, but he knew it was a fleeting feeling. They HAD to seal away the Night Yorb. They HAD to reunite Balthazar and his loving Parrots, They HAD to get ready for junior year.
The understanding that they had to end one of the best times of Riz’s life eased a dagger of loneliness into the rouge's back. Then another of guilt, for feeling bad about saving the world in the first place.
Riz pushes the thoughts away from the front of his mind, hoping the feelings follow. He checks his crystal, wincing at the harsh pale light the screen emits.
Oh wow. He got lost in the board again, and time once again had melted away. He stands in the very back of the Hangvan and peers over the seats. Kristen and Adaine were asleep against each other in the center row, and the odd blue crystal they picked up was floating just above Adaine’s lap. He looked up to the rearview mirror to find a pair of tired eyes looking back at him.
Gorgug puts a hand up and waves forward in a “come on up” motion.
Riz starts to climb over the seats, careful to not make any noise. He finds he is exceptionally silent, not even his clothes rustling against themselves when he moves. He looks over at the two girls, realizing they aren't making any noise breathing. Kristen is an open mouth sleeper, and even if she denies it, Adaine snores when she does decide to sleep instead of trance-ing. Riz looks back up at Gorgug who gives a small shrug, eyes switching back to the road.
Riz continues to the front of the van, startling when he hears a Dry Guys Podcast episode playing at normal volume. Well, normal for Gorgug, so louder than average, but still.
“Kristen casted silence on the middle seats when Adaine said she was going to actually unconscious sleep earlier.” Gorgug explained while turning the podcast down to conversational volume.
“Oh, sweet. Which Dry Guys is this?” Riz asked, clicking his seat belt into place.
“They are planning a dessert wedding I think? It's only just past the intro so we can start it over if you want.”
“Sure dude, thanks.”
Gorgug taps at his crystal and the episode starts again. The two boys fall silent listening to the raspy podcast.
Riz looks out over the expanse of the Baronies before them. They were still high in the mountains, and the night was clear and crisp. Riz looked out in quiet wonder at the vast grasslands bathed in silvery moonlight, and Castle Baron, a huge visible structure on the horizon.
Wondering if the sealing magic team was doing back on the Leviathan, he opens the messages app on his crystal and shoots a quick Progress? to Ayda Aguefort He is only waiting a moment before he gets a message back. Rune work is finished. Resting to cast more spells. He smiles and nods to himself. Ayda was reliably concise as always. This made her way easier to text than Fig for status updates.
He had struck up an unlikely friendship based on mutual appreciation and respect for the other's analytical mind. Riz also really enjoyed how direct and up front with her feelings she was. Ayda had asked if they could be friends, citing that his “Harsh energy could be quite enjoyable in small intervals of time.” That really touched Riz for some reason and he agreed immediately.
The Dry Guys were going into an ad break so Riz gave Gorgug the other team's update. Gorgug responded with a noncommittal “hmm”, not taking his eyes off the road.
Riz looked over at his bigger friend, the sleuth part of his brain was putting pieces down on a puzzle he didn't know he was making yet. Something about Gorgug was flagging some deep deep part of his memory. He studied his friend for a bit, Gorgug not even registering the Goblins investigation. Gorgug looked tired and his posture was tense, but that was nothing new. All summer Gorgug had been oddly distant at times and would get this forlorn look when he thought no one was looking. Riz narrows his eyes. Gorgug was drumming on the wheel of the Hangvan idly. Riz let himself dip into his memory, his mind’s conspiracy board, trying to place the rhythm. It wasn't any of the Fig and the Cig Fig songs. He had sat in on their band practice many times while trying to convince fig to go to bard class.
Like a bolt from the blue Riz recognizes the tune, letting out a soft gasp as he does. He feels a hot blush of guilt as he remembers why he can remember the song as well. Gorgug has played this in jam-sessions and drummed along singing the words absentmindedly, but never in front of a microphone.
Gorgug, who had been pulled from his thoughts by the podcast buffering, taps his crystal a few times before sighing and glancing over at The Ball.
“Uh, Riz? You Ok buddy? What's up? ”
Riz cringes, his eyes looking anywhere but at Gorgug. He debates lying for just a moment; not wanting to even bring up Zelda. Gorgug had been uncharacteristically short about the topic all summer. Riz turns and looks out at the Baronies, remembering a terrifying skeletal figure in a mirror from the last time he lied to his friends. He shivers and forces himself to look at Gorgug instead. Gorgug is looking at him from the corner of his eye every few seconds, still focused on driving down a mountain in eternal night on little sleep, but clearly concerned for his friend in the growing silence. Riz sighs and feels his heartbeat grow quicker. Okay. Total honesty it is.
“Gorgug you know how I keep the party journal updated so we can get a grade for it later right?”
“Yeah and thanks for that by the way. Nobody but you and Adaine would do it but your entries are way more understandable.”
“Adaine gets caught up in world building a bit, but that's not important. You remember at the beginning of the summer, when Balthazar and Duggan thought you were a Yorbie and kidnapped you for questioning?”
“Yeah, you guys picked me up after 2 days in the pudding boat.”
“Uh huh. So when one of the group is gone for a while, I usually just ask them what happened later for the journal.”
Gorgug cocks his head to the side. “You didn’t talk to me about it then though?”
Riz manages to flush further. “Yeah, heh uh, you see, uh.” Riz flounders. Gorgug holds his gaze on Riz for what feels like a much too long time for someone driving down a mountain.
“I kinda, uh, looked through some of your personal journals to figure out what happened.” Riz squeaks the last bit out in a single breath.
The color drains from Gorgug’s face immediately. “Riz. Which journals did you read?” Gorgug asks slowly and clearly, and Riz feels like he wants to misty step into the backseat.
“Um. Kind of… all of them?” he says, voice tilting up into a question at the end. Riz’s new rings are suddenly very interesting.
“Oh God.” Gorgug looked like he saw a beholder. He had begun sweating, and the was speeding up very gradually, seemingly unaware of their rising velocity.
Riz felt ill. This whole interaction was sucking and was going to continue to suck as he anticipated the next question.
“Riz. How much did you read?” Gorgug was clearly reluctant to ask but simply couldn't not ask. He looked as pale and anxious as Riz had ever seen him, including when he was about to fight a dragon freshman year.
Riz answered in a voice so small he wasn't sure he had spoken. “All of it?”
“Oh my God.” Gorgug now looked horrified. Well, somewhere between horrified and about to go into a rage. He was well on the way to flooring it now as well.
Thiat got Riz’s attention. “Hey hey hey, Gorgug buddy let’s take a breath huh? He said in as steady a voice he could manage. “I'll just start slowing us down here and we can talk about it, how bout that?” Riz used his mage hand to gently press the brakes as he took several deep breaths in through his nose and out through his mouth.
Gorgug took a second to respond but looked wide eyed over at Riz, joining him after a few breaths and letting his foot off the gas. The Van slowed for some time before coming to a gentle stop, idling on the side of a mountain overlooking most of Solace.
Riz put the car in park with his mage hand and began an apology/explanation deluge.
“ImsosorryGorgug I just saw the journals and they were numbered 1-4 so I couldn't just read 1 and I started reading looking for the pudding boat thing but I was curious and I'm a private eye and I didn't know there would be the lyrics or the drawings or the poems or the music or Zel-”
“RIZ!” Gorgug yells, startling the goblin out of his babbling.
“...Yeah Gorgug?” Riz asks, uncertain. Gorgug makes most people look small but Riz has never felt so minuscule next to his friend.
Gorgug takes a few breaths before leaning his forehead on the steering wheel and closing his eyes. “C’mon man...” Gorgug sounded more disappointed than mad, and that was so so so much worse for Riz.
He could deal with Gorgug getting upset with him. Giving him an earful, which he deserves, and being mad at him for a few days. Adventuring parties had stupid spats all the time, and Riz wasn't above it. He still felt bad about biting a hole in one of Kristen's gym bags (long story). However, Gorgug’s body language conveyed no anger, only hurt and betrayal. He looked like someone had physically wounded him, his face pinched into a grimace. Gorgug took a few shaky breaths before lifting his head off the wheel, looking at Riz teary eyed.
Riz felt his heart crumble in his chest seeing the tears in the half orc’s eyes. Riz’s incessant need to snoop had caused one of his friends to cry. He had caused Gorgug to cry. Riz definitely was going to be sick. This can't be happening, he couldn't believe he made Gorgug of all people cry! Gorgug was easily the nicest person of The Bad Kid, and one of them was a literal saint. Riz couldn't process the pit of black bile that he felt in his stomach, the guilt so palpable he could feel his adrenaline spiking.
Gorgug opened his mouth to speak, but a wet rattling sob tore out of Riz’s throat. Gorgug paused, confused.
Riz slapped a hand over his mouth but his entire chest shook as another choking sob ripped through him. His vision grew blurry as heavy tears spilled on his cheeks and hand. He took in a breath and found it to be a shuddering heaving inhale. He couldn’t manage to hold onto the audible groan he made when another sob hit, and then it was all he could do to keep breathing as he stumbled into a full ugly cry. Riz can’t organize his thoughts past Gorgug’s tearful look of disappointment a moment ago and his sudden self loathing. He couldn't compose himself, his mind clouded over by the despair of losing one of his closest and most important friends.
Gorgug went from confused to concerned. He hadn’t seen Riz lose control of his emotions like this. Riz was usually the one on the team that kept their head in the game against any enemy. He kept the team on task. Seeing that Riz was truly distressed was… well… distressing.
Gorgug spared a glance to the backseat, confirming the girls were still asleep. He reached a hesitant hand out, placing it on Riz’s back. “Hey man… it… I wasn’t crying because of you…” Gorgug was losing the fight to keep his voice from cracking. “I…” sigh, “I just haven’t talked to anyone about me and Zelda, and those journals were helping me put those big fee- these big feelings out of my head I guess.”
At that, Riz looked up at Gorgug. Tears flowing unabated, nose running, ears low. He brings a hand up to the sleeve of Gorgug’s battle worn grey hoodie, grabbing and holding it like a lifeline.
Gorgug’s heart aches for his small friend in turn. “Hey c’mon man don’t… you're gonna make me… c-cry…” Gorgug doesn’t quite manage to stop a small sob on the last word.
Riz begins openly sobbing again, wriggling out of the seat belt without letting go of Gorgug’s sleeve. He stands in the passenger seat, and hugs Gorgug around the neck crying into his shoulder.
Gorgug is only surprised for a half second, before his body moves on its own returning the hug fully. He lets himself dissolve into tears again fully.
The boys stay like that just holding onto each other and crying for a few moments when suddenly the Dry Guys finish buffering and they are once again trying to convince the bride to consider a cactus fruit cake.
Gorgug and Riz both jump back at the raspy conversation abruptly cutting through the silence. The boys realize what happened, look at each other, and begin to laugh. The sheer hilarity of the moment banishing any bad vibes the two were drowning in moments before. They laugh 2 or 3 more minutes, eventually settling down, fighting off aftershocks of laughter, and wiping away tears.
Riz sighs and looks over at his friend. “I'm really sorry man. Not just for reading the journals and snooping on your biz. I know things didn't end clean with Zelda, and that really sucks.”
Gorgug winces a bit but nods. “It’s Ok dude. I mean it's not, and we are gonna talk about boundaries later, but we’re Ok dude.”
Riz lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. “Yeah man, absolutely.”
Gorgug holds out a fist. “Bros?”
Ris has to inhale really sharply through his nose to not start crying again, but keeps it together. “Yeah man, bros.” He touches his knuckle to Gorgug’s. Gorgug pulls him into another hug. This one a more bro standard, non-sobbing-uncontrollably hug.
A flash from the backseat makes them both flinch and freeze. They turn to see Adaine and Kristen both cackling silently, Kristen with her crystal still aloft taking photos. The two settle enough for Kristen to dismiss the spell. “Hey guys, I didn't know we could pull over to take hug breaks.”
Both the boys' crystals flash as a message hits The Bad Kids group chat.
A picture of Gorgug and Riz still embracing puffy eyed and tear streaked, looking blindsided in the flash, pops into the message app.
Adaine shows her crystal triumphantly to the front seat, ”Looks like I got 2 new profile photos for your contacts on my crystal as well.”
“Why are you guys so… damp?” Kristen asks, apparently not having seen the feelings dam breaking at the front of the Hangvan.
Riz looks at Gorgug who without missing a beat says “I’ll tell you later.”
Fig enters the conversation with a flurry of emotions, questions, and emojis. Gorgug simply puts the Hangvan back in gear, shaking his head and smiling as the girls begin teasing Riz for climbing back into his already buckled seat belt.