Milo/MC/Mal being Gatekeeper

A/N This is for the Baron tier shorts

A crack of light raced across the sky, splitting it in two as it followed a jagged line down to a wavering door. Milo had his hand flat against it, pushing at it with sweat on his brow, teeth grinding together in effort. Wind blew from the other side where a darkness was swarming, trying to spill forward like a tidal wave of despair and all Milo had to work against it, all he could do, was push. His muscles strained against the weight of it and to anyone else, it would burn. But the key he held in his hand was sucking up the pain. The fire. Taking the energy that would have knocked a normal person to their back and converting it into force that he could use. Head bent, eyes squeezed shut, he slammed his other hand against the door and gave one final push.  It slammed shut with a burst of light before the crack of lightening faded from above, and the door was closed. Forever.

Malcolm and I ran forward then. Mal caught Milo before he collapsed, getting an arm under him when his knees buckled. “I got you,” he was murmuring to the man. I arrived next, skidding to a stop in front of him. Sweat coated his face and the key he had used was nothing but molten brass on the ground. I could smell burning flesh and while I knew his key hand was safe, I remembered the stark pain that had hit him when he put his other hand up. I felt it in my gut.

Taking his non key hand in mine, I held it up to my face. It was red and angry, the skin threatening to bubble. “Oh, Milo,” I whispered. This one was going to leave a mark. But that was his body. A map of the doors that he had closed. Looking at Mal, I sighed. “Let’s get him back to my place.”

Mal dug into Milo’s pocket, grabbing out a familiar key. He threw it on the ground and a door to my apartment appeared. Without another word, we walked through it.

We got Milo to the couch, lowering the man. He was always a bit woozy after closing a door, but he usually recovered quick enough. Blinking, he looked around the room, most likely not remembering how he had even got here.

“I’m assuming it worked,” he said. “We’re not in Nox’s weird interdimensional thing where we walk around their body, right?”

I raised a brow towards him. “Is that what you think the in-between space is? My body?”

He nodded sagely. “I like to think it’s your circulatory system. And anytime someone dies, they’re the blood cells marching through.”

I laughed a little, leaning forward to push the hair from his eyes. “You’re weird,” I told him, leaning down to kiss him softly on the lips. He grinned against me, proud of the statement. It turned into a hiss as Malcolm took his injured hand and began to tend to the wound.

“Why do you always got to do this stuff while I’m distracted with Nox’s lips?” he glared at Malcolm.

“Because,” Mal murmured. “It’s when you’re the mosts amenable. Now hold still.” 

Milo sat, legs spread and hand in Malcolm’s lap. Malcolm was right in front of him, intently looking at the wound, while I sat on the arm of the couch, gently running my fingers through the small curls of hair at the base of his neck.

“That was a tricky door,” I commented as Malcolm began wrapping the hand.

Milo’s lips were twisted in a bit of pain but overall, Mal was gentle with what he was doing. “A lot trickier than I thought. The key didn’t work on its own. That’s why I had to use my other hand to close it.”

“I’m surprised your hand isn’t shredded,” Malcolm said with a frown. “I did the same thing once, and I had to have my hand in this repair goo for a month.”

“Tried something new today,” Milo said, shifting a little and leaning his head against my side. I wrapped an arm around him, rubbing soothing circles on his neck. “I tattooed a few keys on my wrist using metal from melted down keys.”

Malcolm stopped. “You did what?”

“It’s fine,” he assured. “I think. Anyway. I melted down some of the older keys that I know have no problematic doors and stuff, inked it all on my wrist and tada, some of the magic came through and I saved my hand. I mean, it hurts like a son of a bitch, but I still was able to do something. It gave me the push that I needed.”

I blinked, looking down. There was no tattoo on his wrist. Not anymore. But I vaguely remembered seeing it earlier. I hadn’t commented because the door had burst open only seconds later. “That was good thinking ahead,” I told him. I was going to do a mental check of whether or not that was going to have some horrendous consequences later on in life if he continued with this method, but I had to give it to him. He knew he needed a back-up plan in case things went south. And it had worked. It wasn’t like any of our bodies functioned like a typical one anyway.

Milo looked up at me, grinning, the dimples of his cheeks pronounced. “Why, thank you, darlin’. Always nice to know when my crazy schemes are appreciated.”

Malcolm tied off the rest of his hand and sat back. He kept one hand on Milo’s knee. “I’m not thrilled that you didn’t talk to me about it before.”

“That’s because you’re a control freak.”

I grimaced but when I caught Malcolm’s eyes, I nodded. He kind of was.

“But,” he said, “I will admit that you saw a problem and tackled it. I wouldn’t have thought of it and I don’t think many have before.”

Milo looked at me. “Was that a compliment? Did Mal compliment me?”

“It’s because he loves you,” I told him. “And because he thinks you’re great.”

“Gods, Mal. I never knew. You think I’m awesome, don’t you. You look up to me as a Gatekeeper. I get it. I’m pretty special.”

Mal rolled his eyes. “And I’m done.”

As he rose, Milo yanked him down so he landed sprawled on Milo’s lap. I inadvertently ended up falling as well, on top of Malcolm. Milo took advantage of this and held us both to him. We all shifted around until we were comfortable, lying on the couch together.

“You honestly think I did good?” Milo asked after a moment.

I nodded. “I do. I want to make sure it’s safe, but I think there is a reason why you are the longest living Gatekeeper, Milo.”

Malcolm made a noise of agreement. “We’ll go through the keys together. See which ones are necessary. It’s a big job, and you shouldn’t have to tackle it on your own.”

I liked that idea. The three of us tackling Gatekeeping together. It calmed the storm in Milo’s head and allowed him to think better. Milo was an incredibly intelligent individual that often just wasn’t given the opportunity to thrive.

“‘Kay,” he said. “I like that. But I also don’t want to do anything for at least two days. Other than lay on top of the two of you and maybe have you both take me to bed since I deserve to be worshiped.”

I laughed loudly at that, wrapping my arms tight around Milo while Malcolm ignored him. But I could see the twitch of a smile on his lips.

“What’ever you say, oh Gatekeeper of mine. We are at your service.”

“Dangerous phrasing,” Malcolm said.

“Perfect phrasing.” Milo grinned. And the three of us, snuggled down, intent not to move for the rest of the day.