Chapter Twenty
Second last chapter. Large author notes soon.
Chapter Twenty:
They followed Ashliegh down a winding pebble path, deep into the forest. Something about the atmosphere struck Alfred as something from the long forgotten past. He almost felt like they should all be carrying backpacks and walking sticks in one hand. Here they were; three adventurers on a quest ordained by the Gods themselves. They might be traveling to the kingdom of the great Dark Lord, for the great fuss Kreole had made about Luft.
There were certainly beautiful elements about the background to their little quest. Kreole had once had a dragon lover, Tessa, a woman he had cared for very deeply. They were together for many, many years but eventually old age caught up with her. She died one morning and Kreole was so devastated that he had journeyed to the Black Palace, stolen Drawin’delu’s dagger of life and given Tessa another day of life. Drawin had been infuriated and although Kreole had apologized, the God of Death had not accepted the apology. The premise was that if Kreole had of just -asked- Drawin would have given him those precious few hours. So they went to war.
It was a love story. This whole nightmare.
/I can’t believe he hid my body in Luft. That is just low Drawin. Even for you. / Kreole was whining.
Drawin turned his head to hiss in Alfred’s general direction. The blonde shied away. He didn’t want to piss Drawin off. That God was cranky.
Luft and the Dragon King of Mix. That story was one of Alfred’s favorites. Especially the part where Sen hides inside the closet and hands the clothing to Kreole as the God goes looking for his sandals.
The land of Mix was a holy place that Kreole had resolved to never step foot in, lest it disturb the blessings he had set on it. Although the myths said that was mostly just his excuse for avoiding the whole continent altogether.
The Elf, still walking with an angry sway to her hips, led them into a large man-made clearing. The pebble path ended and opened up onto a massive helicopter pad. It could have fit something like six copters.
There was a helicopter on the pad, one pilot in the seat and another smoking next to the passenger side. He quickly put the smoke out and straightened up.
“Ma’am.”
“Prepare the copter. We’re ready to go. I want to be on the way to Luft within ten minutes.” Ashliegh snapped at him.
She had to be pretty pissed to be snapping. Alfred didn’t think it would amount to much, Drawin was a God, he wouldn’t care that he had trod all over Ashliegh’s ‘feelings’.
The three of them got into the back of the copter while it was prepared for take off. The engine started up.
Alfred followed Ashliegh’s example in buckling up his limbs. They closed the doors.
Drawin didn’t do anything for a while; he just sat there, looking out the window. His expression slipped and Van came back out. The brunette cursed and started to buckle up.
The helicopter was not what Alfred had expected. For one thing, the seats were cushioned and the walls were thick. There was a little cup holder and arm rest right beside each of the chairs. The covers were blue- a soft pastel sky-blue- with white flowers patterned onto them. The padding on the doors was the same as the seats.
They took off within the time frame that Ashliegh had given. Probably not good for the engines, but it was better than staying on the ground too long. Eventually something would have found them. Something with teeth and claws.
/So did you manage to get rid of the magic target? / Drawin asked.
/Yes. It was powerful, too powerful to take care of using Alfred’s body. I am very weak right now. / Kreole said the last in an almost teasing tone.
/So if I were to strike you now, you would be helpless. / Drawin didn’t sound all that interested in ‘striking Kreole down.’
/Yes. /
/Your timing is horrible. / Drawin sighed.
Both of them must have been exhausted. Better they both be unable to fight than one having the upper hand. Bloody Gods.
“Alfred?” Van was speaking.
Alfred snapped out of his quiet thoughts and looked at the brunette. “Yes?”
“Do you think what we’re doing is right?”
“Right?”
“I mean moral. I mean good. We’re really only doing this for selfish reasons, right?”
Alfred hadn’t really given it all that much thought. Was what they were doing noble? He doubted it. In the past week, he’d managed to destroy his own home. Kill half a dozen monsters. Escape from prison and been an accessory to grievous bodily harm. Massive property damage not including.
What for? So that two Gods could have their bodies back?
So that he could be alone inside his thoughts once more? He wasn’t even sure he couldn’t get used to having another consciousness inside his head.
/Don’t get too comfortable with me. I want my body back too, you know. /
“I think that it doesn’t really matter.” Alfred raised his voice to be heard. They didn’t have to shout, well, not loudly.
“How come?”
“Well… when you think about it. I’m sure the kings and knights and nobles of the myths weren’t always doing it for glory and the ‘good of the people.’ No one is perfect. We might not be doing this for selfless reasons, but we’re still helping someone, in a way.”
Van nodded and sat back in his seat.
“I think of it that way too. You guys aren’t really after great rewards or doing something to save the world… but I don’t think it’s a bad idea.” Ashliegh put in.
Alfred nodded. “I still feel a little selfish, because I just really want my privacy back. But I suppose it can’t be helped.”
The flight went on much more quietly after that. The boys ended up falling asleep after a few hours.
Ashliegh must have slept at some point. Elves weren’t that different from humans. Well, that’s what Alfred comforted himself with. Even though she could go with less sleep and remain chipper at any hour, she was still only mortal like the rest of them.
They stopped over in Dell for refueling at six o’clock in the morning. Breakfast was brought to the trio by eight and although they were groggy and sore from the helicopter ride, the rich aroma of eggs, cheese, ham and sausages managed to rouse them enough to devour everything but the cutlery. The stop had revealed that the helicopter was a lot bigger than it had seemed at night, and was, in fact, carrying two flight attendants, a pair of blonde Elves that could have been twins. They flirted with Van a little, although it seemed more polite flirting than anything else. The boys were informed that lunch would be at twelve, but there would be a small snack at eleven. What this constituted, they didn’t find out until eleven o’clock rolled around and muffins and tea were pulled into their little area.
Alfred didn’t even notice when he ate three sausages. Kreole was very adapt at sending sneaky little messages to Alfred’s brain. Not that the human had quite noticed.
They flew over the continent of Porvi, passing over the mostly desert landscape. The helicopter kept to the outskirts, not passing over much of the inland forests. There was another, brief stop in Shan, where they ate dinner, before the long flight resumed.
They traveled for three days. Most of it a sleepy blur for Alfred. The rest on the helicopter was meager at best, and Ashliegh and Van weren’t much for the talking.
Van rested almost as much as Alfred did, and when the boys weren’t asleep they weren’t terribly interested in talking. Everything had been said. Or so Alfred thought. It was clear that there was something on Van’s mind. Or someone. No one wanted to talk about his miraculous recovery from death, it was too traumatic. Alfred was still having nightmares about it.
They touched down in Luft at about six in the morning. The boys were roused by Ashliegh shaking them from their sleep.
“We’ve arrived.” The Elf was whispering. Even she looked a little the worse for wear.
“Where are we?” Van whispered. He glanced down, noticing that he’d had his hand on top of Alfred’s. The brunette quickly removed it, nodding an apology to the blonde.
“On the landing pad of the hotel. Come on. I’m sure you two want showers as much as I do.”
Alfred wiped the sleep-dust from his eyes and hasted to get unbuckled and out of the helicopter. While the helicopter was smaller and less noticeable than a plane, it was a machine that had never been built for traveling half-way around the world.
Luft was cold and the buildings were all frosted over. The icy wind was made worse from the helicopter blowing up frost and mountain around the weary travelers. Some of the hotel staff were waiting on top of the building, wearing business suits. Alfred knew they must be freezing. This close to the North Pole, it snowed in the winter. It was early autumn for the people of Luft, and it was a cold autumn, at that.
They were led down into their rooms. Ashliegh had tried to get three that were connected, but she had only managed to find two inter-connected rooms and a third next door. Ashliegh took the third room and left the boys to the other two rooms.
“I had some of my father’s people buy you boys some appropriate clothing. Meet me downstairs in the lobby at eight. We’ll have breakfast and go find Kreole’s tomb.” She spoke the last in a whisper, so the staff couldn’t hear.
Alfred nodded and accepted his key. He needed a shower badly. A change of clothing, fresh underwear. His hair was mangey and oily.
They went into their rooms and the first thing Alfred did was open the bathroom door.
Ashliegh had gone all out. They were staying in a five star hotel. Alfred had never been in a five star hotel. He looked around the room with awe. The sheets were high-quality cotton. There was the complimentary chocolate mint on the pillow. There was a bowl of more mints beside the bed. The room was huge, while the bed was a king-sized creature, the room could have fit another two or three of the same bed. It was the soft white-cream color of a hotel, that hadn’t changed. On the wall was a picture of an Elf hunting a deer. An old one by some classic artist whose name escaped Alfred’s brain.
The bathroom had its own phone, a large assortment of shaving and personal care items, from shampoo to soap. Even a small sewing kit. There were three kinds of towels on the shelf and in little holders. And there, on the vanity- the large vanity- was a set of freshly bought shirts, pants a warm jacket and underwear.
Alfred took the clothing into the bedroom and dumped it all on the chair. He went back into the bathroom, emptied his overly full bladder and began striping.
The shower had glass doors. Glass! as opposed to the dingy curtain that he had back home.
The blonde locked himself in with shampoo and soap and scrubbed his whole body down. he had to hop out halfway through the shower to grab the conditioner that he’d forgotten, getting water everywhere all over the floor.
Alfred didn’t usually take long showers- at most fifteen minutes- but this time he enjoyed the feel of the water running down his body for almost an hour. He finally hoped out when his fingers started to prune.
Wrapping a towel around his waist and hair, he shaved off the stubble that had elected itself ruler of his chin and cheeks and looked over his severely lacking hair of a chest.
“Why hasn’t it come back? It’s been a few days…” He could feel a few, small hairs. But normally, your hair came back twice more vicious than before didn’t it?
/I told you. I waxed it all off. It won’t be coming back for a week or two. / Kreole purred.
Alfred had noticed that when Kreole said all of it… he’d meant all of it. “Didn’t it hurt, when they did… down there?” The blonde was looking between his legs.
/No. Your body has a surprisingly high tolerance to pain. Who would have thought. Must be genetics. /
Alfred didn’t dignify that with an answer.
He walked out of the bathroom and into the hotel room, shaking his hair a little to get it to dry quicker.
The blonde flopped down on the bed, stretching all his tired muscles. Steam rolled off his body and he closed his eyes. it was cold in the hotel room.
“Alfred?” Van’s voice came from the other end of the room.
Alfred closed his gaping towel and sat up. “What is it, Van?”
“I wanted to… talk to you.”
“Alfred yawned and ushered the brunette into the room. “What about?”
Van came over to the bed. He was wearing a towel around his waist as well his hair was a little drier than Alfred’s, which suggested he’d gotten out of the shower earlier.
The brunette sat down on one corner of the bed. “Alfred… I don’t know if you’ve noticed… but…”
Alfred sat patiently. Van was acting a little unusual. Here he was, this older, more experienced man, and he was blushing. Was it about Drawin? Alfred superstitiously glanced at Van’s chest.
No, Van still had hair.
“I’m attracted to other men…” Van continued.
The blonde wasn’t sure he liked where this was going. Was he about to be asked about what it was like to be with a girl? Did Van have the hots for Ashliegh?
“And… there’s a guy that I’ve been attracted to for a while now…”
Alfred swallowed. Why did he think he knew where this was going? “W-who?” The blonde asked, voice shaking ever-so-slightly.
Van leaned forward a little, bordering on invading Alfred’s personal space. “I… I didn’t want to die… I didn’t want to die... without telling that person,” He shook his head -as if seeing something in Alfred’s eyes- and hopped off the bed, stepping away like a frightened deer in headlights, “but I mean, it doesn’t matter… it’s nothing… just forget I said anythin-”
Alfred was pretty sure that it was Kreole who made him grab Van’s arm and pull the brunette back down to the bed. But he couldn’t blame the God for what he did then. He ignored the flash of horror through his mind -still remembering Van’s resurrection- and sealed his lips gently over Van’s.
Was it instinct? Watching too many romance movies? He could be completely wrong. But no, something told him he wasn’t. Gut instinct indeed.
Van didn’t move for a few seconds, but then, very suddenly, as though he were afraid Alfred might take it back, he kissed back.
The brunette shoved forward and rolled Alfred back onto the bed.
He pulled away, just a little from the kiss. “So… I was hoping… to tell you… to say, if we could be more than just friends?”
/You might not want to say that. Alfred is sexually confused. /
“Shut up, Kreole.” Alfred muttered and leaned up, catching Van’s lips again.
~
They were famished by the time they made it downstairs, five minutes late because finding the lift had been harder than it should have been. Why is it that everything seems easier when you’re dead tired but refresh yourself a little and it all becomes so complex and weird.
Alfred would have liked to say that he hadn’t expected Van to do what he had done. But the truth was probably that the blonde had known for a while now. Van had always engaged Alfred in conversation over anyone else. And while he didn’t know as much about the Resh’sen as Alfred did, he seemed to have learned as much as possible just so he could engage the blonde in conversation. Was it true that some part of Alfred had enjoyed the attention? Probably. Did he return those feelings? That Alfred didn’t know. He was a stranger to deep friendships, confused when it came to things like love or desire. He’d always been content to just have his books and his knowledge and the pride that came with being so smart. Would the little ego he’d put between himself and other people let him get into a serious relationship? Alfred had no idea.
But Van wasn’t irritating. He didn’t hang all over Alfred after they’d thoroughly tussled and ruined the bed sheets.
Van seemed most interested in the whole kissing and slowly rutting with Alfred. There was no speed like it had been with Grant. It all went at a much slower, more pleasurable pace.
Did Van know that Alfred had preferred it like that? His ass didn’t hurt nearly as much as the last time, and while he wondered why Van had chosen now of all times to confess, he felt strangely elated as they entered the lift.
There was no real distress to Van’s actions. He just pinned Alfred against the side of the lift and they kissed until Alfred started to laugh.
“What?”
Alfred shook his head. He didn’t know why he was laughing. “I don’t know. It all seems pretty funny, though.”
Van cracked a smile and kissed the blonde lightly before prying himself off. They stood close together, but not so close that Alfred’s personal space was inadvertedly invaded. Van seemed to have a good sense for that.
The lift dinged on the ground floor and they stepped out.
Ashliegh was leaning against the lobby counter, she waved them over.
“Let’s get something to eat. I’m starved.” The Elf said.
Alfred nodded. He had a raging God inside of him that demanded food.
~Tsuzuku.
Chapter Twenty:
They followed Ashliegh down a winding pebble path, deep into the forest. Something about the atmosphere struck Alfred as something from the long forgotten past. He almost felt like they should all be carrying backpacks and walking sticks in one hand. Here they were; three adventurers on a quest ordained by the Gods themselves. They might be traveling to the kingdom of the great Dark Lord, for the great fuss Kreole had made about Luft.
There were certainly beautiful elements about the background to their little quest. Kreole had once had a dragon lover, Tessa, a woman he had cared for very deeply. They were together for many, many years but eventually old age caught up with her. She died one morning and Kreole was so devastated that he had journeyed to the Black Palace, stolen Drawin’delu’s dagger of life and given Tessa another day of life. Drawin had been infuriated and although Kreole had apologized, the God of Death had not accepted the apology. The premise was that if Kreole had of just -asked- Drawin would have given him those precious few hours. So they went to war.
It was a love story. This whole nightmare.
/I can’t believe he hid my body in Luft. That is just low Drawin. Even for you. / Kreole was whining.
Drawin turned his head to hiss in Alfred’s general direction. The blonde shied away. He didn’t want to piss Drawin off. That God was cranky.
Luft and the Dragon King of Mix. That story was one of Alfred’s favorites. Especially the part where Sen hides inside the closet and hands the clothing to Kreole as the God goes looking for his sandals.
The land of Mix was a holy place that Kreole had resolved to never step foot in, lest it disturb the blessings he had set on it. Although the myths said that was mostly just his excuse for avoiding the whole continent altogether.
The Elf, still walking with an angry sway to her hips, led them into a large man-made clearing. The pebble path ended and opened up onto a massive helicopter pad. It could have fit something like six copters.
There was a helicopter on the pad, one pilot in the seat and another smoking next to the passenger side. He quickly put the smoke out and straightened up.
“Ma’am.”
“Prepare the copter. We’re ready to go. I want to be on the way to Luft within ten minutes.” Ashliegh snapped at him.
She had to be pretty pissed to be snapping. Alfred didn’t think it would amount to much, Drawin was a God, he wouldn’t care that he had trod all over Ashliegh’s ‘feelings’.
The three of them got into the back of the copter while it was prepared for take off. The engine started up.
Alfred followed Ashliegh’s example in buckling up his limbs. They closed the doors.
Drawin didn’t do anything for a while; he just sat there, looking out the window. His expression slipped and Van came back out. The brunette cursed and started to buckle up.
The helicopter was not what Alfred had expected. For one thing, the seats were cushioned and the walls were thick. There was a little cup holder and arm rest right beside each of the chairs. The covers were blue- a soft pastel sky-blue- with white flowers patterned onto them. The padding on the doors was the same as the seats.
They took off within the time frame that Ashliegh had given. Probably not good for the engines, but it was better than staying on the ground too long. Eventually something would have found them. Something with teeth and claws.
/So did you manage to get rid of the magic target? / Drawin asked.
/Yes. It was powerful, too powerful to take care of using Alfred’s body. I am very weak right now. / Kreole said the last in an almost teasing tone.
/So if I were to strike you now, you would be helpless. / Drawin didn’t sound all that interested in ‘striking Kreole down.’
/Yes. /
/Your timing is horrible. / Drawin sighed.
Both of them must have been exhausted. Better they both be unable to fight than one having the upper hand. Bloody Gods.
“Alfred?” Van was speaking.
Alfred snapped out of his quiet thoughts and looked at the brunette. “Yes?”
“Do you think what we’re doing is right?”
“Right?”
“I mean moral. I mean good. We’re really only doing this for selfish reasons, right?”
Alfred hadn’t really given it all that much thought. Was what they were doing noble? He doubted it. In the past week, he’d managed to destroy his own home. Kill half a dozen monsters. Escape from prison and been an accessory to grievous bodily harm. Massive property damage not including.
What for? So that two Gods could have their bodies back?
So that he could be alone inside his thoughts once more? He wasn’t even sure he couldn’t get used to having another consciousness inside his head.
/Don’t get too comfortable with me. I want my body back too, you know. /
“I think that it doesn’t really matter.” Alfred raised his voice to be heard. They didn’t have to shout, well, not loudly.
“How come?”
“Well… when you think about it. I’m sure the kings and knights and nobles of the myths weren’t always doing it for glory and the ‘good of the people.’ No one is perfect. We might not be doing this for selfless reasons, but we’re still helping someone, in a way.”
Van nodded and sat back in his seat.
“I think of it that way too. You guys aren’t really after great rewards or doing something to save the world… but I don’t think it’s a bad idea.” Ashliegh put in.
Alfred nodded. “I still feel a little selfish, because I just really want my privacy back. But I suppose it can’t be helped.”
The flight went on much more quietly after that. The boys ended up falling asleep after a few hours.
Ashliegh must have slept at some point. Elves weren’t that different from humans. Well, that’s what Alfred comforted himself with. Even though she could go with less sleep and remain chipper at any hour, she was still only mortal like the rest of them.
They stopped over in Dell for refueling at six o’clock in the morning. Breakfast was brought to the trio by eight and although they were groggy and sore from the helicopter ride, the rich aroma of eggs, cheese, ham and sausages managed to rouse them enough to devour everything but the cutlery. The stop had revealed that the helicopter was a lot bigger than it had seemed at night, and was, in fact, carrying two flight attendants, a pair of blonde Elves that could have been twins. They flirted with Van a little, although it seemed more polite flirting than anything else. The boys were informed that lunch would be at twelve, but there would be a small snack at eleven. What this constituted, they didn’t find out until eleven o’clock rolled around and muffins and tea were pulled into their little area.
Alfred didn’t even notice when he ate three sausages. Kreole was very adapt at sending sneaky little messages to Alfred’s brain. Not that the human had quite noticed.
They flew over the continent of Porvi, passing over the mostly desert landscape. The helicopter kept to the outskirts, not passing over much of the inland forests. There was another, brief stop in Shan, where they ate dinner, before the long flight resumed.
They traveled for three days. Most of it a sleepy blur for Alfred. The rest on the helicopter was meager at best, and Ashliegh and Van weren’t much for the talking.
Van rested almost as much as Alfred did, and when the boys weren’t asleep they weren’t terribly interested in talking. Everything had been said. Or so Alfred thought. It was clear that there was something on Van’s mind. Or someone. No one wanted to talk about his miraculous recovery from death, it was too traumatic. Alfred was still having nightmares about it.
They touched down in Luft at about six in the morning. The boys were roused by Ashliegh shaking them from their sleep.
“We’ve arrived.” The Elf was whispering. Even she looked a little the worse for wear.
“Where are we?” Van whispered. He glanced down, noticing that he’d had his hand on top of Alfred’s. The brunette quickly removed it, nodding an apology to the blonde.
“On the landing pad of the hotel. Come on. I’m sure you two want showers as much as I do.”
Alfred wiped the sleep-dust from his eyes and hasted to get unbuckled and out of the helicopter. While the helicopter was smaller and less noticeable than a plane, it was a machine that had never been built for traveling half-way around the world.
Luft was cold and the buildings were all frosted over. The icy wind was made worse from the helicopter blowing up frost and mountain around the weary travelers. Some of the hotel staff were waiting on top of the building, wearing business suits. Alfred knew they must be freezing. This close to the North Pole, it snowed in the winter. It was early autumn for the people of Luft, and it was a cold autumn, at that.
They were led down into their rooms. Ashliegh had tried to get three that were connected, but she had only managed to find two inter-connected rooms and a third next door. Ashliegh took the third room and left the boys to the other two rooms.
“I had some of my father’s people buy you boys some appropriate clothing. Meet me downstairs in the lobby at eight. We’ll have breakfast and go find Kreole’s tomb.” She spoke the last in a whisper, so the staff couldn’t hear.
Alfred nodded and accepted his key. He needed a shower badly. A change of clothing, fresh underwear. His hair was mangey and oily.
They went into their rooms and the first thing Alfred did was open the bathroom door.
Ashliegh had gone all out. They were staying in a five star hotel. Alfred had never been in a five star hotel. He looked around the room with awe. The sheets were high-quality cotton. There was the complimentary chocolate mint on the pillow. There was a bowl of more mints beside the bed. The room was huge, while the bed was a king-sized creature, the room could have fit another two or three of the same bed. It was the soft white-cream color of a hotel, that hadn’t changed. On the wall was a picture of an Elf hunting a deer. An old one by some classic artist whose name escaped Alfred’s brain.
The bathroom had its own phone, a large assortment of shaving and personal care items, from shampoo to soap. Even a small sewing kit. There were three kinds of towels on the shelf and in little holders. And there, on the vanity- the large vanity- was a set of freshly bought shirts, pants a warm jacket and underwear.
Alfred took the clothing into the bedroom and dumped it all on the chair. He went back into the bathroom, emptied his overly full bladder and began striping.
The shower had glass doors. Glass! as opposed to the dingy curtain that he had back home.
The blonde locked himself in with shampoo and soap and scrubbed his whole body down. he had to hop out halfway through the shower to grab the conditioner that he’d forgotten, getting water everywhere all over the floor.
Alfred didn’t usually take long showers- at most fifteen minutes- but this time he enjoyed the feel of the water running down his body for almost an hour. He finally hoped out when his fingers started to prune.
Wrapping a towel around his waist and hair, he shaved off the stubble that had elected itself ruler of his chin and cheeks and looked over his severely lacking hair of a chest.
“Why hasn’t it come back? It’s been a few days…” He could feel a few, small hairs. But normally, your hair came back twice more vicious than before didn’t it?
/I told you. I waxed it all off. It won’t be coming back for a week or two. / Kreole purred.
Alfred had noticed that when Kreole said all of it… he’d meant all of it. “Didn’t it hurt, when they did… down there?” The blonde was looking between his legs.
/No. Your body has a surprisingly high tolerance to pain. Who would have thought. Must be genetics. /
Alfred didn’t dignify that with an answer.
He walked out of the bathroom and into the hotel room, shaking his hair a little to get it to dry quicker.
The blonde flopped down on the bed, stretching all his tired muscles. Steam rolled off his body and he closed his eyes. it was cold in the hotel room.
“Alfred?” Van’s voice came from the other end of the room.
Alfred closed his gaping towel and sat up. “What is it, Van?”
“I wanted to… talk to you.”
“Alfred yawned and ushered the brunette into the room. “What about?”
Van came over to the bed. He was wearing a towel around his waist as well his hair was a little drier than Alfred’s, which suggested he’d gotten out of the shower earlier.
The brunette sat down on one corner of the bed. “Alfred… I don’t know if you’ve noticed… but…”
Alfred sat patiently. Van was acting a little unusual. Here he was, this older, more experienced man, and he was blushing. Was it about Drawin? Alfred superstitiously glanced at Van’s chest.
No, Van still had hair.
“I’m attracted to other men…” Van continued.
The blonde wasn’t sure he liked where this was going. Was he about to be asked about what it was like to be with a girl? Did Van have the hots for Ashliegh?
“And… there’s a guy that I’ve been attracted to for a while now…”
Alfred swallowed. Why did he think he knew where this was going? “W-who?” The blonde asked, voice shaking ever-so-slightly.
Van leaned forward a little, bordering on invading Alfred’s personal space. “I… I didn’t want to die… I didn’t want to die... without telling that person,” He shook his head -as if seeing something in Alfred’s eyes- and hopped off the bed, stepping away like a frightened deer in headlights, “but I mean, it doesn’t matter… it’s nothing… just forget I said anythin-”
Alfred was pretty sure that it was Kreole who made him grab Van’s arm and pull the brunette back down to the bed. But he couldn’t blame the God for what he did then. He ignored the flash of horror through his mind -still remembering Van’s resurrection- and sealed his lips gently over Van’s.
Was it instinct? Watching too many romance movies? He could be completely wrong. But no, something told him he wasn’t. Gut instinct indeed.
Van didn’t move for a few seconds, but then, very suddenly, as though he were afraid Alfred might take it back, he kissed back.
The brunette shoved forward and rolled Alfred back onto the bed.
He pulled away, just a little from the kiss. “So… I was hoping… to tell you… to say, if we could be more than just friends?”
/You might not want to say that. Alfred is sexually confused. /
“Shut up, Kreole.” Alfred muttered and leaned up, catching Van’s lips again.
~
They were famished by the time they made it downstairs, five minutes late because finding the lift had been harder than it should have been. Why is it that everything seems easier when you’re dead tired but refresh yourself a little and it all becomes so complex and weird.
Alfred would have liked to say that he hadn’t expected Van to do what he had done. But the truth was probably that the blonde had known for a while now. Van had always engaged Alfred in conversation over anyone else. And while he didn’t know as much about the Resh’sen as Alfred did, he seemed to have learned as much as possible just so he could engage the blonde in conversation. Was it true that some part of Alfred had enjoyed the attention? Probably. Did he return those feelings? That Alfred didn’t know. He was a stranger to deep friendships, confused when it came to things like love or desire. He’d always been content to just have his books and his knowledge and the pride that came with being so smart. Would the little ego he’d put between himself and other people let him get into a serious relationship? Alfred had no idea.
But Van wasn’t irritating. He didn’t hang all over Alfred after they’d thoroughly tussled and ruined the bed sheets.
Van seemed most interested in the whole kissing and slowly rutting with Alfred. There was no speed like it had been with Grant. It all went at a much slower, more pleasurable pace.
Did Van know that Alfred had preferred it like that? His ass didn’t hurt nearly as much as the last time, and while he wondered why Van had chosen now of all times to confess, he felt strangely elated as they entered the lift.
There was no real distress to Van’s actions. He just pinned Alfred against the side of the lift and they kissed until Alfred started to laugh.
“What?”
Alfred shook his head. He didn’t know why he was laughing. “I don’t know. It all seems pretty funny, though.”
Van cracked a smile and kissed the blonde lightly before prying himself off. They stood close together, but not so close that Alfred’s personal space was inadvertedly invaded. Van seemed to have a good sense for that.
The lift dinged on the ground floor and they stepped out.
Ashliegh was leaning against the lobby counter, she waved them over.
“Let’s get something to eat. I’m starved.” The Elf said.
Alfred nodded. He had a raging God inside of him that demanded food.
~Tsuzuku.