Pandemonium [original]

Chapter Fourteen: "Don't stop... Believin'"

Waking to a warm body tucked in his arms, Sephiram hadn't slept so well in nearly a decade. His eyes fluttered open. His chin rested on top of a tangle of red hair. He smiled, and eventually extracted himself from the man's arms.

Caspian had horrible bedhead. Red locks stuck up at odd angles, and a smile tugged at his lips. Caspian was cute, but Sephiram couldn't have him getting arrogant.

He poked the man in the side, aiming for a ticklish spot. Sephy had gotten well acquainted with them over the past couple of weeks.

"Hey, wake up, sleeping beauty." He whispered in Cas's ear.

He jumped up and slapped a hand per his ear, "what?! Jeez, don't do that."

Smirking, Seph pressed a kiss to his lips. "Just thought I'd help a little."

Cas shoved Sephiram out of bed. "Make yourself useful and make some coffee."

The blonde man grudgingly trudged out of the room, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Half-awake, he ground some coffee beans and started to brew the blend.

The noise woke the others, and there was some complaining and curses, but Sephiram wasn't lucid enough to bother replying.

On the couch, Rhys and Mal were cuddling. Finally, Malachi had found someone who didn't oppose his aggressive cuddling tendencies. Sephiram made a gagging motion as he passed the two to pick up the morning paper.

Malachi stuck out his toungue. "I bet you've been busy!" He accused the blonde man.

"Yeah... well actually I guess you wouldn't say that it was me who was busy... Since Cas was doing pretty much all of the work. The things that man can do with his-"

"NO."

"... No."

Mal' jaw dropped. "Ew."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that..." Rhys groans, and buries his face in Malachi's chest.

Demitri happened to overhear the exchange and laughed. "Nice, Seph." At least she was capable of appreciating his humor.

Sephiram retrieved the paper and chucked it at Mal's head. "Get up and help with breakfast." He ordered.

"I don't think I want to now..." He sounded sick. 

Sephiram clicked his tongue and proceeded to the kitchen to get two mugs of coffee.

He delivered a steaming cup to Caspian, "Princess," he mocked.

***

It took some 'persuasion' but everyone was awake and eating within an hour. Caspian cleared his throat.

"So... we've been here a while, but there hasn't been any contact from the Queen or anyone from our dimension."

Rhys started to say something, but Cas held up a hand. "It seems like it's only been a little over two weeks, but time passes differently here. One day here is two days in Discord."

"It's been a month there?" Malachi exclaimed.

"Something must be wrong, or we would have heard something by now." Rhys said.

Sephiram tapped his fingers on the arm of the couch. "The time conversion rate is more like  ⁶√(66)."

Zaria crunched numbers in her head, and within seconds, "That would be 2.010... the conversion rate... and we've been in Pandemonium for sixteen days: that's 32.165 days that have passed at home since we left."