Kaz opened his eyes, looking over at Will. A soft, fond smile flickered over his face, and he reached over to gently brush his hand along Will's spine. "How are those injuries feeling?" he asked in a soft voice, remembering that Will had been hurt by the journey here.
"Alright." Will mumbles into the blankets. Tired of huffing fabric fibers, he props his chin up. "They hurt more on the first night." He spares Kazimir a brief glance. "It's not the worst you've handled me, but I do enjoy my flesh intact and not caked in mud and blood."
Kaz hummed faintly, bending to press a kiss to the top of Will's head. "Mm, well. My apologies, darling. You would not have been handled so roughly if I had known it was you." he replied, reaching to gently card his fingers through the young man's hair.
The feeling of Kazimir's fingers in his hair is a welcome one, and Will finds himself leaning into the touch with a small hum. "I'm sure you would have." The moment, no matter how tender, had to be interrupted eventually–and that comes with a small knock a the door with a servant softly announcing they have the dinner for the King.
Kaz got up from the bed, moving over to the door and opening it. He took the platter from the servant, thanked them, and closed the door, then came back to the bed. "Get up, darling. Dinner is here." he said to Will, carefully settling the platter on the bed. He opened up the various containers, carefully setting the lids to the side as steam wafted up from many of the different foods.
As instructed, Will sits up and positions himself cross-legges on the bed. He reties his hair on the back of his head with the green ribbon and takes in the dishes in front of him. He notes there are no plates and only a single utensil for each dish. "And nothing here will cause me to implode?" He specifies.
Kaz took a moment to review everything, and then he shook his head. "It is all safe for you." he responded. "You won't explode." his mouth quirked to the side faintly, and he picked up a utensil and took a bite of one of the foods, a hot, steaming dish that smelled of spices.
"I dont want to explode," Will reiterates one more time for good measure before reaching for the nearest spoon dunked in what looks like a warm bowl of stew. Except, whatever the more refined version of stew is. He blows away the steam before taking a bite, humming at the rich and savory flavor. "What's this?" He asks, already reaching for another spoonful.
Kaz's gaze flicked to the bowl, smiling a little. "I don't know." he replied. "It's delicious, I'm sure, whatever it is." he ran a hand through his hair, and then went back to eating his own food. There was more food on the platter than the two of them would likely be able to eat, but that was quite alright.
Will hums and nods, taking another small bite before carefully laying the spoon atop of the bowl. Everything is familiar, something he's either read, heard of, or some variant of one of his mother's dishes. His father never cooked. Hugo Silvius was a man not allowed in the kitchen. Victoria Silvius was always the woman to shoo him away from the stove. "This is a lot," he notes, grabbing a small piece of bread from a warm basket.
"It is. We have plenty." he replied. "And whatever we do not eat, we can give back to the servant to take back to the kitchen." he continued eating from the various dishes, calm and quiet as he did so. He was seated cross-legged, the silk pajamas draping along his body.
"I hate to waste–" His mouth is full of bread, making it truly quite difficult to speak. Once he chews and swallows, he tries again. "I hate to waste." Growing up poor and with his mother's limited cooking quickly forced Will to learn the waste all the hard work goes to by throwing away leftovers.
"It won't be." Kaz replied, still calmly eating. "Just eat until you're full, Will. Don't worry about anything else." He paused for a moment. "Shall I send for some wine?" He would have to be careful about what wine, of course. Some faery wines were not safe for Will to drink from.
William doesn't expect the sudden shortening of his name. It takes a brief moment to recover from the unexpected nickname, but when he does, he shrugs and takes another bite of the bread. Already feeling his hunger ebbing away, Will calculates exactly how much more he can eat before he gets sick. "If you would like," he answers Kazimir's question. Will has to wonder if he's actually had wine in this life. It's not like his parents could afford the bottle, and his father always detested the smell.
Kaz hummed, getting up and moving to the door, where he spoke to someone, then came back. "Someone will bring us a bottle of the wine." he said softly, settling back down on the bed again and taking another bite of food. He was assuming that Will had had wine before; it seemed a reasonable assumption to him, at the very least. Even if it might be incorrect.
Curious to see what he had been eating on, Will takes the fork from the dish Kazimir had been eating and uses it to take a reasonable bite of whatever food was still left on it. He chews momentarily and nods his approval. The food here never seems to be bad. The chefs here could clearly teach the tavern owners back home how to properly sear meat. "Sounds lovely," Will mutters. He pushes around a small bit of food on his plate, a particular apple catching his eye from the small basket. He looks from Kazimir down to his plate.
Kaz exhaled faintly, leaning back against the headboard of the bed and shaking his head just a little bit. "I have missed you." he said softly. "Living this lifetime without you." Lanos had been an amazing friend, but they had not been his Martyr. No one could have taken Will's place in his life and in his heart.
Will nods. Of course, he had– had he missed Kazimir? The only recollection before their reunion had been nothing but night terrors and unexplainable phantom pains. "What had you been doing… Before I came into this life?" Already knowing most of the answer, Will moves his soft green eyes to meet the Snake's startling and sharp crimson.
"What do you mean?" he asked, raising his eyebrows faintly as he looked over at Will. "I have lived…a long time, in this life. How much of that history are you asking for?" he reached out to pick up a bun, cracking it open and spreading butter and jam in it, then taking a bite.
"Your family?" Will questions, without a doubt knowing the spot will be unpleasant and sore, but what will the Snake do about it? Kill him? "How you rose to power?" He already knows Kazimir had not obtained it peacefully. There's a thousand more questions on his tongue, but he leaves them unspoken, instead choosing to convey them with a simple look.
(Will "Your family?" Kaz: kills him on the spot)
Kaz frowned a little, looking down at the bread in his hands rather than at Will as he considered the questions. "Why do you want to know about it?" he finally asked. "It doesn't matter anymore." his family didn't matter anymore. He resisted the urge to bring his fingers up, to brush them along the old scar on his throat.
"Curious to see if there's any in-laws I'll have to meet." Will shrugs, grabbing the apple and taking a large bite from it. Granny Smith, his favorite bright greet tart apples. What he says isn't a lie. In fact, Kazimir's dodgy answer gives Will plenty of information to go off of. "I've asked a thousand questions about you. About this place," Will says after swallowing his bite. "Yet you've never asked me any in return."
He frowned again. "There are not." he replied, taking another bite of his bun, brows gathered together. "And…I have not asked questions because I did not want to pry. You seemed defensive, when you first arrived." he took another bite, still not looking at Will.
"Rightfully so," Will mutters, both agreeing with the defensiveness and Kazimir's reasoning. "But to move away from–" He glances at Kaz. "Clearly uncomfortable topics, you can ask me anything you'd like."
He shrugged his shoulders a little bit. "Mm, fine." he thought for a moment, squinting at Will as he thought about what to ask. "Do you have any siblings?" he finally asked. "Or even parents?" perhaps Will was an orphan. He doubted it. Kaz was always the one with the horrific childhood, though Will's sometimes was not great either.
He supposes it was coming eventually, but Will's heart lurches when he thinks of his parents. "I have no siblings, but my parents were more than enough." He pauses, thinking for a moment. "My mother, Victoria, cleans clothes for a living. She's… frantic? She needs something to do with her hands constantly." Thinking of her, he runs his hands through his hair. "She's always had mismatching clothes and a bun that was never really a bun at all. All of the hair would escape the ribbon before the hour was even up." He smiles, just barely.
"My father, Hugo, is a clockmaker. He's been doing it ever since he was a boy when it was his father's business and his father's before." If he closes his eyes, he can almost hear the constant ticking of their walls. "My father wanted me to pick up the craft, but even when I was little, I never had an affinity for the small cogs and hands." He rubs at his eye. "He's alright with me not wanting to carry on the business. He's a soft, kind man who wants the best for everyone."
Kaz nodded a little, focus still on the bun in his hands. He couldn't help the faint curl of jealousy that rose inside him as Will spoke, hearing how much the Martyr cared for these people. His own parents, he would rather were dead. The horrific things they had done to him as a child… he had never had a chance to be anything but this. He tore a piece off the bun, putting it in his mouth. "They sound lovely."
"They are." Will grows quiet and takes another bite of his apple. "I miss them." They have to be worried sick. His mother, already a woman riddled with anxiety had to have had the worst panic attack of her life. His father could've either scoured the village in search of him or locked himself away in his shop. There's no real in between with Hugo.
Kaz nodded again. "Well…you cannot go through the portal again for at least a week. It causes too much strain on mortal bodies." he replied softly. "I would not want you to be torn apart or driven mad." one of them being mad was enough. Both was too much. He already struggled too much with his own mind to wish taht on Will.
"I hate magic," Will groans quietly, though the heat doesn't back his words. He places his apple core onto one of the cleared plates and stretches his arms up above his head. Will has always been a tired man–exhaustion is far too drilled into his bones. Lately, it seems being around the Snake has only amplified his sleepiness. He yawns into his hand.