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Merlin bed felt good. He had never appreciated quite how wonderful a bed could be on waking when he woke without the haze of sleeping potion until the past month or so. It was so warm, soft and he felt so heavy, he could just sink back asleep. Sleepily, Johann lifted his head from Balfour's right shoulder, stretched it and shifted to roll onto his back. As ever, they had fallen asleep entwined, Johann's head resting against Balfour's bare chest, lulled into sleep.

As he rolled his right shoulder back away from Balfour who was still fast asleep, it met with something quite firm.
"Hrmm.., Whiskey…" Johann murmured sleepily. He and the dog fought over the side of the bed to Balfour's right. On the coldest nights the three of them had ended up together on the bed, the dog's hairy back pressed against Johann's with the blankets between them. For the habitually cold wizard, he didn't mind too much. Well as long at Balfour's hound didn't fart or take up more than a third of the bed.

Today he was definitely taking up a generous third, preventing Johann from rolling over. He nudged at the lump  behind him with his right shoulder-blade, normally enough to stir Whiskey enough to lift his head and take a command, but there came no response. Johann reached his right arm out of the blankets and went to reach back, and realised suddenly it wasn't Whiskey at all and twisted as best he could to look behind himself.

Oh. Oh right. Right.

Johann rolled back to face Balfour, rather more awake than his love. Yes, he remembered now. Merlin. They'd talked about it, but it actually happening had been a bit different. Fun different, but different.

No wonder he ached so sweetly.

His left side was becoming a little numb for sleeping so soundly on it all night, he had to move.

Mihai wouldn't mind if he rolled over onto him for a bit he was sure. He wouldn't need his left arm for five minutes. Just for a bit, then he'd roll back onto Balfour or crawl out from between them. But bed was so warm, especially with three of them in it. He didn't want to disturb either of them. He wasn't sure what time they'd fallen asleep.

It took a little careful shifting but he succeeded a moment later with one minor issue of Johann's right arse cheek resting on Mihai's upturned left hand beneath the sheets as the obliviator was dozing on his back.

Well, he reasoned internally, they were rather better acquainted now.

Mihai had spent most of the 'sleeping' hours trying to sleep. He was a picky man-- anybody who had been his bed partner more than once knew that he was a picky, condescending bastard when it came to the comfort of a mattress or the size of a bed. Mihai couldn't tell if the lack of space on the bed was the issue, or if it was the fact he was sharing the bed with not one--but two-- other people. Every little movement roused him from his slumber. As a result, he spent most of the night in a strange area between sleep and wakefulness.

His back ached and groaned in protest. Johann was moving around-- either trying to get comfortable in order to fall back asleep, or he was awake for the day. Then he felt a weight on him. Joh had thrown his arm across his torso. Mihai was certain that Johann was trying to crush his arm.

Mihai struggled to roll over, feeling his back pop as he moved into a more comfortable position. And now, Johann would have some more space.

"Good morning." He murmured, a bemused smile lighting up his tired eyes.  "Time? What time is it?"

There were voices murmuring somewhere above the deep blackness in which Balfour slept, noises muffled by sleep and the rumble of subconscious thoughts. Hearing them told him he was awake but he wasn't quite prepared to face the world this morning. It was barely a day after the drunkenness of New Year's.

"...morning. Time?....at time is it?"

The wizard made a growling sound that tried and failed to be interpreted as shut up while he tried to roll over, to bury his head in the side of th---

-- he rolled right off the ledge, eyes coming open in surprise as he landed on his arse on the woven rug. Fuck. So much for more sleep. Balfour blinked in the morning light coming in through the bedroom curtains, leaning back on his hands while last night came quickly seeping to mind. His lack of dreams often made it much easier to recall the last thing that happened the day before. Well. Not the last thing in this case. Curling up with Johann was a standard. A third player wasn't. The room carried the scent of dried sweat and stale sleep.

That had been interesting. Fun? Decidedly fun.

Balfour rubbed his face tiredly before clambering to his knees, head sticking up over the side of the bed to peer at the two other men there. The corners of his lips curled into a pleasant smile. Mm. Quite the sight to wake up to. Bitten red marks or not, Johann's pale skin set up a pretty contrast against Mihai. An image to keep in mind for later recollection.

"Time," he repeated drowsily and glanced around the room. The sun was hitting the floors at a different angle from when he usually rose for work. Brighter. But it didn't feel like he had enough rest. "I...don't know. Nine? Hold on."

Taking care not to bump his head against the side table, Balfour got up and stretched - every muscle in him sighed pleasantly at the pull, spine spitting out its usual cacophony of morning crackling. He crossed the room to the wardrobe, taking the silver pocket watch dangling off the door. It took a sleepy moment to open it.

The dark, gleaming red surface of the watch face stared back. "Aye. Quarter past nine." Balfour shut the timepiece smoothly and glanced at the large bedroom mirror to consider the bed with a more thought, awake expression. "Coffee, then?"

He did consider going back to bed but it seemed a sin to waste a conscious moment with two beautiful gentlemen.

Mihai rather did mind the loss of his left arm as it happened, and shifted quite easily. Johann felt a little bad for this, but also relieved as he was able to put both shoulderblades down onto the mattress in the resulting space.

"Good morning. Time? What time is it?" Mihai asked and smiled at him. He had a pretty smile, Johann thought, feeling it alright to admire Balfour's close friends for their looks as well as their friendship at this point.

"Time?" Johann replied in a murmur. He hadn't even considered time, just warmth and space and then who was behind him. Sleep was still gripping onto him - fatigue from being up all night into new year's day catching up.

To his left, Balfour growled incoherently and Johann's head snapped round, recognising what it meant. He'd heard it before when he'd woken up early and decided to potter about or talk to Whiskey and Balfour was enjoying a snooze. It was either accompanied by him flopping over face first into the pillow and carrying on sleeping, or retaliating to pull Johann back down to a horizontal position with a strong arm.

That morning there wasn't either as Balfour rolled off the bed entirely. Johann sat up a little and propped himself up on his left elbow in surprise, accidentally planting his right hand on Mihai to do so, hastily lifting it off when he realised. His lover reappeared with a smile on his face. Johann flopped back down and mirrored it, stretching pale arms up above his head, hooking long fingers over the headboard.

"Time,"
"Yes." Johann replied, no idea where his own pocketwatch or his wand for that matter was. They were usually nearby out of habit, but Balfour was up on his feet, and Johann made no attempt to hide his admiration of the other wizard's backside as he went to check the hour.

"Coffee, then?"
"Fantastic idea." Johann replied and brought down a hand from above to stifle a yawn, blue eyes blinking slowly as they stared right back in the reflection, catching sight of himself beside Mihai.

He sat up, stretching his arms forward to his toes beneath the blankets. His pale back bore faint marks. "Sorry I think I woke you both up." Both hands ruffled his hair and tugged at knots. "And not even how I prefer to." He winked and grinned before wriggling out of bed on the same side Balfour had recently departed from.

The way he felt after last night Johann might have been so bold as to continue to wander around in a state of undress, but it was chilly, and he could do without yet another cold, so he dug about for a pair of boxer shorts and something warmer to throw on.
"Merlin, I ache in places I don't want to mention." He muttered through the t-shirt he was pulling over his head.

He raised his eyebrows in amusement as Balfour practically growled in response to being waken up. Unlike Balfour, he didn't roll off the ledge. With a chuckle, he stood up and stretched, shoulders crackling and loosening up as he did so.

A quarter past nine. They had slept in late-- or rather, late for Mihai. He had a hard time feeling sympathy for disturbing Balfour from his rest. Reasonable people woke up at six AM, he thought to himself. Or, maybe not reasonable people-- but people who were used to a poor quality of sleep.  Mihai had the nagging feeling that he was forgetting something... Something was happening today, but he couldn't recall.

Meeting with the minister? No. With Edwin Glass? No. That wasn't right. His brows furrowed together as he tried to puzzle out what he was missing.

With a shrug of resignation, he leisurely found his clothes and slowly began to dress.  At Johann's apology, he shook his head. "I was already awake." He admitted nonchalantly.

"Coffee sounds perfect." He replied to Bal, running his fingers through his peppery, bedworn curls.  "That'll do to wake us all up."

He left the pocket watch swaying from the wardrobe handle and began to hunt about for something comfortable while both Joh and Mihai agreed to morning coffee. Balfour shrugged on on his maroon dressing robe, glancing at the two men with a contented smile - lingering a little longer on the bitten red marks left behind on Johann's skin. "Never unpleasant if I'm waking next to you, dear." The memory of the night before still sent a light trill through him. Did he have an inclination for wizards with curls?

"Mm could do with waking up," he murmured and tightened the robe belt before padding out of the bedroom. Whiskey was curled up in the corridor just outside of the Study, ears pricked up and dark eyes staring at his passing master.

His hands went to work in a perfunctory manner the moment he entered the kitchen; wrestling out the notoriously fickle french press and ground beans. A kettle was put on - never one to heat water by magic - and he considered brewing some of the tea that Ira had given them as part of the Christmas hamper she sent her tenants every year. Even after their exertions coffee did not seem the best alternative to his morning ritual. Certainly not his usual Sunday morning ritual, when he and Joh would spend most of their time leisurely enjoying themselves in bed.

Something about today resisted repose. The Fates came wandering into the kitchen in their customary way, curious, and Balfour glanced past them at the wall calendar (from Dietrich, complete with dragon images). A green memo was pinned just below the Horntail's oscillating tail, reminding him that Alex was headed back to Hogwarts this morning.

"Food?" he called out to the other wizards distractedly.

"Never unpleasant if I'm waking next to you, dear." Balfour smiled and Johann grinned back, tugging down the bottom of his t-shirt and reaching for a jumper out of the drawer, habitually cold and needing more layers.

"That'll do to wake us all up." Mihai agreed from behind. Balfour agreed, leaving while Johann wrestled the dark green jumper over his head and made a face at himself in the mirror, long pale fingers sweeping his curls back as if considering tying them up. Balfour had cut his hair for him again just before Christmas but it was as if his hair rebelled against scissors and raced to regrow.

"Heh, wore each other out last night." Johann muttered, not bothering with trousers, his long pale legs carrying him past Mihai and into the passageway beyond, boxers protruding out beneath the hem of the woolly jumper.

"Whiiiskey, hey youuuu." Outside the bedroom, Johann dropped to a crouch to fuss Balfour's faithful dog who had been ousted from the bedroom for the night. "Who's a good dog?"

"Food?" Balfour's voice came from the kitchen. Whiskey took that as his cue despite enjoying a belly scratch from the wizard he begrudgingly shared a side of the bed with. He leapt up and trotted into the kitchen.

Johann sighed and pulled himself up on his feet.
"Coffee's food," he called with a hint of humour, "But Whiskey heard you... Alright, coming hound..." He followed closely behind the dog,  into the kitchen behind Balfour, inhaling the smell of fresh coffee. Without thinking twice, he set about the usual routine and fed their canine companion. The Fates, as Johann discovered, would turn their nose up at anything he put down even if it was the right food, simply because it wasn't Balfour feeding them. Whiskey took food as food despite which hand fed him.

"Hopefully your breakfast will meet Mihai's approval more than the bed." He chuckled with his back turned, hands busy. He set down Whiskey's bowl, petting the dog's fur absentmindedly before scooping up the water bowl to tend to it too. He squinted at the calendar and cast a look over his shoulder at Balfour. "You going to embarrass your beloved goddaughter?"

Fully dressed, but looking a bit disheveled, Mihai followed Joh and Balfour into the kitchen. He ignored the dog, Whiskey-- the wizard had never really been a dog person. Juni wanted a dog or a cat so badly, but he couldn't commit to taking care of one, and she was still in school. Yes, he did have Heeby the house elf, but she was getting old and had her limits. Besides, why would he get a pet that a house elf needed to take care of? He had his owl, but owls were fairly low maintenance and a necessity in a wizarding household. Cats and dogs were frivolous.

He raised his brow at the offer of food. "No thank you, Balfour." Mihai replied, agreeing wholeheartedly with Johann that coffee was indeed food. He was not a big breakfast eater. If he ate anything, it was perhaps a piece of buttered toast to go with his coffee. The wizard didn't usually get hungry til about noon.

Johann squinting at the calendar drew Mihai's attention to it.

He let out a groan and rubbed his temple. "Shit. Juni's going back today." He was still in trouble with her for working through Christmas, among other things. This would be another thing she would add to her list of reasons to be upset with him. "Number one father award, goes to me." His voice dripped with self-depreciating sarcasm.

Coffee grounds steeped, and Balfour procured his wand from the dressing robe pocket to charm a trio of mugs down from the cupboards. He and Johann used matching mugs that some of the bairns had gifted them for Christmas - porcelain white with their names written in childish, glittery script. Mihai of course would use a sensible piece of china.

"You going to embarrass your beloved goddaughter?" The wizard glanced up from the kitchen counter as he partly concentrated on not mixing up the cat food with his tea.

It was well known that embarrassing Alex was high on his list of favourite things to do as godfather. He smiled fondly at Johann, turning back to lower the food bowls for the Fates. "No, but I'll need to send an owl with some gifts to receive her at school." Bits and bobs of things that the wee Ravenclaw enjoyed. Dark chocolates and the like. Perhaps one of those ridiculous toys Rascal relishes.

The cats came wandering in - as cats do, as if though by chance rather than intention - past Mihai's legs. Balfour handed the Obliviator his coffee as realisation dawned across the other man's face. Ah. While he never really forgot about the junior Zamperia, it did sometimes escape Balfour that Juni was home for the holidays. Until today.

"Oh, come now..." he slipped an arm around Johann's waist from behind, and a mug into his lover's hand while he smiled sympathetically at Mihai. "There's still time. I'm sure she's only just getting up now." Children were terribly independent these days, he supposed, more excited to be back with friends by the time the new term rolled around. Certainly he was as such at her age. "She'll understand."

Balfour released Johann to take a seat at the kitchen table, dragging another chair back for him. "Some day," he added cautiously.

"No thank you, Balfour."
"I was joking - don't go hungry." Johann followed Mihai's rejection over breakfast, feeling he might have influenced the other wizard without meaning to. But the look between them all and the reaction it got confirmed it wasn't the case.

"Number one father award goes to me." Mihai grumbled as the Fates wound between his legs on the way to investigate their breakfast. Johann reached up to drag back his unruly black curls as he observed the goings on in the kitchen. Whiskey's rhythmic jaws smacking as he devoured breakfast at Johann's feet.

"Oh, come now, there's still time. I'm sure she's only just getting up now. She'll understand." Balfour tried to lift Mihai's spirits with the thought as Johann wrapped his hands around the freshly made mug of coffee and shuffled ever so slightly closer to Balfour as she arm slipped around his waist.

"Mhm," he nodded in agreement just as Balfour added the final some day. "Just tell her you were working." He shrugged, eyes following Balfour's move to the table, before lifting again to Mihai. "Not like we're going to say otherwise." He blew gently on the surface of his coffee. He'd been trying to make up and take the ruddy tonic to help with the sleeping potion before indulging in coffee but there was an audience.

He dropped into the chair beside Balfour and leaned his elbow on the kitchen table top, clasping the mug in one hand, the other falling beneath the table to smooth along Balfour's thigh affectionately. An intense curiosity suddenly visible on his face, "Have you ever obliviated your own daughter?" He asked. Zamperia's profession still gave Johann a healthy dose of apprehension, though for the night just passed he felt a little more well.. cocky… in how he spoke to the other wizard.

Juni was an early riser, like him and like her mother. There was the rare occasion in which she slept in late, and Mihai sorely hoped that today was one of those occasions. A fool's hope.

Mihai accepted his sensible coffee mug, silently relieved that he did not have a glittery one that matched the couple's. Boring, plain china was enough for him. As the cats wandered in, Mihai stepped back to avoid that horrible rubbing-against-legs thing that cats did to rub their scent on you. He was not a cat person. Truthfully, he was not a dog person unless the dog was put to use as more than a companion animal. Useless animals within a home annoyed him. Owls-- owls of course were wonderful.

The wizard hoped that Balfour was right-- that Juni would understand. Someday. It didn't shock him that they advocated lying to his daughter. He felt he'd been doing plenty of that her whole life-- why stop now?

"Have you ever obliviated your own daughter?" Johann asked curiously.

Balfour practically choked on his coffee. Mihai hoped it burned.

"I have not." He replied cooly, "That I can remember anyway." Mihai admitted, "The rest of my family? Not so much. We've all poked around in each other's minds. I made sure not to expose Juni to that," His father was not a pleasant man. Nicolae had ensured from a young age that his children had some sort of Legilimency skills. He had often been harsh, controlling.

"Obliviation-- a game the whole family can play."

If he wasn't so preoccupied trying to make sure the tea didn't go down the wrong way, Balfour would have pinched his partner in the ribs for such a cheeky question. Johann's hand on his thigh - gliding down the bare expanse where the dressing robe parted - was a soothing, misplaced palliative to the sting in his throat. They had been together for months now but there was no getting used to those sudden flashes of curiosity. Gods knew where it came from. He licked his lips gingerly as Mihai responded.

From what he already knew, Zamperia family reunions were as distant from the Spectre clan as one could imagine.

"Hm. Like playing Jenga with one's mind." Balfour remarked wryly while attempting another sip without scalding his insides. The stacking game was popular at the holidays, even with the adults who liked to practice delicate wandwork with it. "I'd much rather stick to charades and tickling wars." He unconsciously reached for Johann's hand on his leg, squeezing it affectionately at recent memories of Christmas.

It never bothered him that Mihai was an Obliviator - or it did insomuch as dragons bothered him on account of being dragons, or Ira for being... whatever she was. Everyone was capable of unspeakably monstrous acts after all. He trusted easily, firmly. Often this worked in his favour.

Not always.

Lachesis, one of the cats, wandered disinterestedly away from its meal to sit underneath the table and stare at their guest's face impenetrably. Balfour nudged it with his foot while he spoke, playful.

"Well. Juni's lucky to have you. Even with that award," he considered Mihai briefly. It wasn't often that he'd seriously think of his friend as a father figure. "I don't think I could bear to Obliviate anyone." Balfour glanced at Johann, shifting his attention in a more awake manner now that he had some tea in him. "Would you? I mean, not me obviously."

He imagined it would be quite handy on level five. Obliviating the odd pest. Hamilton, probably.

The mugs were truly ridiculous, but because they were Christmas presents and from the Spectre children, Johann was rather fond of them. They'd only been together three and a half months by Christmas, but the mugs had formed part of a wider acceptance and reassurance to Johann, though he'd not spoken it. It was acceptance, normality, compassion from a warm family who starkly contrasted his paternal one. Every time he saw them a small part of him thought back on Christmas fondly, of glitter in all his clothes, ridiculous origami crowns and breathless tickle fights.

Beside him, it seemed Balfour was having trouble with his sparkly mug, the curl of l into f visible on the side nearest Johann, gripped in his left hand. His cheeky question had amused and surprised his lover, which was partly his intention. Mihai was being far too serious and grumbly - he understood people who didn't like mornings, but he also knew Mihai to be an early riser from conversations that had gone before.

"That I can remember anyway."
"Oh my," Johann responded quietly, not expecting the second part of the statement. An obliviator obliviated? Was that a scarier thought or not? Mihai's mind magic skills put Johann on edge as it was, but as he was Balfour's friend and an existing acquaintance, he tried not to think about it, and instead poke humour. Or, what Johann perceived as humour, anyway. He figured Mihai didn't agree until he added,

"Obliviation - a game the whole family can play."
"Hm. Like playing Jenga with one's mind." Balfour remarked, but Johann glanced to his left with a sudden expression of please let's not. There were limits to how far he could joke on it - being a deep fear since childhood. "I'd much rather stick to charades and tickling wars" The hand over his on Balfour's leg was some reassurance and Johann's face returned to a smile.
"Merlin, no wonder you prefer to work Christmas." He uttered, trying to match the tone again before sipping generously from the mug in his right hand. He nodded in enthusiastic agreement about Juni's luck, it was only polite.

"I don't think I could bear to Obliviate anyone. Would you? I mean, not me obviously." Johann paused to stare at Balfour a moment.
"Never. I've seen what it does. We can only feel glad those who do are as clever and moral as Mihai my love." He glanced over to their guest, "Which is why he's of course going to tell his daughter why he's not home to take her to Kings Cross…" He lifted both his eyebrows and smirked.

The thought of having their minds altered without their consent was enough to put any wizard on edge. However, some people were much more bothered by the idea than others. It seemed that Johann was part of the latter group. Unfortunately for him, those were exactly the kinds of people he liked to pick at. Oh, they were harmless jokes-- but the fact that they were jokes didn't mean that the ideas were any less unsettling.

Mihai did his best to ignore the feline who was trying to bait him into some sort of staring contest. Why cats gravitated to him, he never understood. It's as if they sensed his disapproval and assumed he was one of them.

"Moral." He repeated, raising his dark eyebrows. That was a word. Perhaps not a word most people would use to describe him. He was moral in his own way, though his morals didn't always match up with others. "Well, if it helps you two, obliviating gets easier the more you do it." The sip he took of his coffee was a smug one. "And--" He added, "I don't think my daughter wants to know why I'm not home." Or wasn't home last night.

A little remorseful for touching on one of Johann's sore fears, he intertwined his fingers with that of his lover's and furrowed his brow in genuine apology - that gentle look he often gave in silence, a mixture of genuine concern and sympathy. But they were quickly off again with the to and fro. Obliviation and fatherhood skills for breakfast.

Not a meagre meal but certainly one that diverged from Balfour's typical morrow mumblings.

He smirked at the notion of Mihai being called moral of all things. Clever, yes. Moral... well. The other wizard had often enough gone off on a tangent about murder and memory that Balfour knew he lived by a special code of his own. Their drunken conversations often involved him saying something like No, Mihai, please don't do that and hoping to Fenrir that he did not do whatever inadvisable thing popped into that dark head of his.

"Well, if it helps you two," Mihai replied as if on cue. "- obliviating gets easier the more you do it."

"Practice makes perfect." Balfour remarked with emphasised enunciation, rolling his Rs with a half-smile. "It goes for other proclivities as well. I'm sure last night proves as much," he added to soften the subject with partiality to his partner's discomfort. Not a difficult thing to do. Mihai could be quite relaxed after a vigorous night.

Lacheisis seemed to give up on her task for a while, turning and leaping on to Balfour's lap - she begrudgingly accepted proximity to Johann's hand. In his hazy, morning mind, Balfour remembered something[1] Johann had once told him.

"You could always tell her you were out wooing ladies of the night..." he suggested impishly, taking another sip of tea. "Slightly more respectable, perhaps."

1.	It's Not What it Looks Like - March 11th