CHAPTER 209: CHAPTER 209: PROUD VICTOR

The storm had finally started to fade, though the city still shimmered with leftover rain, lights glinting off slick glass and asphalt. The atmosphere felt like waiting for something bad to happen, even though the rain was starting to fade in.

Elias felt it before he saw him.

The air in the room shifted, a faint static crawling across his skin. The sound was too soft to call thunder, too familiar to mistake for anything else.

Victor was home.

Elias didn’t bother to get up from the couch. He kept his eyes on the low light from the city, voice dry. "You’re late."

There was a pause. Then, from the doorway: "Am I?"

He turned his head. Victor stood there, coat unfastened, hair damp from rain he’d never actually walked through. His shirt was open at the throat, sleeves rolled high, skin faintly dusted with light, and ether still cooling after whatever he’d done. He looked like a man who’d held lightning too long and hadn’t quite set it down.

"You’re glowing," Elias said quietly. "That’s never good news."

Victor gave a tired half-smile. "It’s temporary."

He crossed the room and sat down opposite him, movements slower than usual, as if gravity had doubled somewhere between there and here. For a moment, he didn’t speak, just rested an elbow on his knee and rubbed a hand over his face like someone trying to remember how to be human again.

When he finally spoke, his voice was rough around the edges. "It’s done."

Elias watched him for a beat. "Adler?"

Victor nodded once. "Gone."

Elias hesitated. "And Uno?"

"Alive," Victor said simply. "He won’t touch you again."

Something about the way he said it made Elias’s stomach twist. "You didn’t put him to sleep."

Victor’s eyes flicked to his, red but muted. "No."

"Why not?"

Victor leaned back, gaze drifting toward the window. "Because he needed to learn what it feels like to lose something that matters. So I told the truth."

Elias blinked, his brow furrowing. "Did you use Connor for it?" He almost laughed at Victor’s expression of ’of course, I did. He hurt you.’

Victor didn’t deny it, didn’t even try. He just sighed, low and rough, the kind of sound that came from somewhere deeper than his lungs. "He touched what’s mine," he said at last. "He thought he could meddle with us and walk away without feeling it."

Elias tilted his head, studying him. "So you decided to ruin him instead."

Victor’s mouth curved, not into a smile exactly, but something close, sharp at the edges, faintly smug. "I didn’t ruin anything. I’ve helped him with a little reminder."

"Of what?"

"That even gods can bleed," Victor murmured. His voice wasn’t loud, but the room felt smaller when he said it. "Especially when they think they can’t."

Elias leaned back, arms crossing loosely over his chest. "You didn’t have to make him fall for someone, though. That’s cruel even for you."

Victor’s lips twitched, and this time the curve almost turned into real amusement. "Cruel?" He tilted his head. "I gave him the one lesson he’s avoided since creation: what it feels like to lose something you actually want."

Elias blinked, then let out a short, incredulous laugh. "You’re serious."

Victor’s eyes gleamed faintly red in the low light. "Completely."

Elias ran a hand over his face, shaking his head, and when he looked back at Victor, there was genuine humor flickering behind the tiredness. "So, let me get this straight," he said slowly. "The Creator of all things is now wandering around heartbroken because you weaponized human emotion against him?"

Victor didn’t answer, he just looked unbearably pleased with himself.

"Oh, gods," Elias muttered, a helpless smile tugging at his mouth. "You did."

Victor’s voice softened, smugness wrapped in affection. "You think I’d let him touch you and not pay for it?"

"Paying for it emotionally wasn’t exactly what I expected," Elias said, half-laughing now. "You’re unbelievable."

Victor shrugged, his tone almost gentle. "You taught me that not everything needs to end in fire."

"Right," Elias said dryly. "You just prefer psychological warfare."

Victor’s grin deepened. "It’s more efficient. And poetic."

Elias let out a breath somewhere between a sigh and a laugh, sinking back into the couch. He watched Victor through the faint shimmer of rainlight reflecting off the window, the way his shoulders finally looked less tense now that the storm inside him had somewhere else to go.

"So Uno’s in love," Elias said after a beat, voice light with amusement. "With Connor."

Victor nodded once.

"And Connor knows?"

"Now he does."

Elias laughed again, quiet, disbelievingly. "That’s... perfect, actually. He deserves it." He looked at Victor, a little spark of mischief warming the words. "You realize you might have just created the most dangerous form of divine irony in existence, right? The Creator, destroyed by his own feelings."

Victor’s smile softened, almost fondly. "Seems fair, doesn’t it?"

Elias tilted his head, still smiling faintly. "Maybe. But now I kind of want to see it."

Victor leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, his voice a low hum. "You will. He’ll try to pretend it doesn’t matter. They always do. Until it does."

Elias’s eyes softened as he looked at him. "You sound like you almost feel sorry for him."

Victor gave a slow blink. "I don’t." Then, quieter, "But I understand."

The words lingered in the room, warm and sharp all at once.

Elias reached across the space between them and brushed his fingers over Victor’s wrist, his expression unreadable except for the faint curve of a smile tugging at his mouth. "Remind me never to make you jealous."

Victor’s grin returned, slow and wicked. "You couldn’t, even if you tried."

"I could try very hard," Elias murmured, amused, leaning back again.

Victor’s hand caught his, squeezing gently. "Then I’d just have to remind you why you shouldn’t."

The silence that followed was softer now, the tension in the air replaced by something warmer, easier. Outside, the rain had stopped completely.

Elias let his head fall back against the couch and smiled to himself. "So," he said, eyes half-closed, "Uno’s suffering because of love, and you’re proud of it."

Victor leaned back too, his voice a murmur. "Excessively."

Elias’s laugh was quiet but real. "You’re terrifying."

Victor smiled faintly, eyes closing. "That’s why you love me."

And for the first time that night, Elias didn’t argue.