Rowan wasn’t expecting Soran’s overwhelming display of happiness after he finished his little speech. At first, he was almost stiff in his student’s arms, as if his body weren’t quite sure what to do. Maybe his brain was just exhausted from all that serious thinking and talking. He chuckled inwardly at the thought, wondering how it would feel to really be as flippant and shallow-minded as Soran probably believed him to be.
The kiss they shared finally loosened him up a little, and he embraced his student with all the fervor of a first time lover. He knew perfectly well what it was the boy wanted to tell him, and so wasn’t much surprised when he professed to be in love with him. Rowan knew how easy it was to “fall madly in love” at his age. He smiled and kissed the finger against his lips, not at all displeased to be the recipient of his own lover’s passionate regard. One day Soran would experience true love, hopefully with someone worthy of his own feelings, but that didn’t make what he claimed to feel right now any less special.
At the moment, he wished the boy would just put a stocking in it and move on to bigger and better things already. They’d done enough professing and promising for now, and he sure as hell hadn’t forced himself back here to talk all evening. But when he would have pushed his student down onto the soft, mossy undergrowth of the forest floor, Soran stopped him. Something about drinking too much wine and feeling a bit sick all of a sudden.
Rowan did a poor job of suppressing his disappointment. “Hold on,” he said when Soran would have stood up to make his way back to camp. He rummaged around in his pockets before withdrawing an emergency stash of dried venison and fruit and handing it to Soran. Smiling, the boy sat back down and nibbled on the snack for a few minutes as Rowan waited impatiently beside him.
“Feeling better yet?” he finally asked, trying not to look like the anxious schoolboy he knew he now resembled.
Soran frowned. “Well…”
Rowan didn’t give him a chance to say more. He leaned forward and kissed the rest of the words right out of his mouth, letting his hands slip beneath his shirt to tug it off as he did so. He figured they had as much privacy here as in a tent since anyone walking by would no doubt here them well before seeing them, and hopefully have the decency to walk away again.
And if they didn’t, well, who cared. All he cared about right now was Soran—kissing him, touching him, making him moan and move beneath him. And the rest of the world, be damned!
~*~*~*~*~
Cas was kind of surprised when Eremis asked him what was going on between Rowan and Jeremy. But then he realized that he and Soran didn’t really become friends until AFTER Eremis had gone away for awhile. And then once his lover came back, well…they’d barely had a chance to speak two words to each other.
“C’mon,” he said, grabbing Eremis’s hand and pulling him toward the fire Kato had started, “Let’s go get something to eat.” Once they were seated and munching on some dinner, he went on to answer Eremis’s questions.
“It’s all Soran’s fault, really,” he said with a slight grin, wondering what his friend would have to say to that. “He’s the reason Jeremy’s all grumpy, and probably why Rowan looked so pissy. You see, he and Rowan are kind of an item right now, only that don’t sit too well with Jeremy. Rowan used to fuck around with Jeremy a bit I think, so the jerk’s got it out for his new lover, and that just so happens to be Soran.”
He swallowed a mouthful of stew then and shook his head sadly. “Poor Soran. I think he’s downright crazy about Rowan, but that raking elf’s got his eye on everybody else—except maybe Jeremy. I hope he gets over him real fast cause he don’t need that shit, you know?” He grinned and put his arm around his lover. “Too bad everybody can’t be as happy as us, huh?”
He shrugged then and turned to take another bite of vegetable stew. “Anyway, that’s my take on things, though lots of its based on good guessing. I haven’t talked much to Soran since you came back. HE’S so hung up over Rowan, he doesn’t have time for anybody else it seems.” He sighed and shook his head once more. “I guess it’s hard, you know? Living the rough life for so long, and then along comes somebody to finally treat you like a real person. Poor guy, I know how he feels, man. I really do.”
Just then the pair in question made their way out from another section of the woods and sat down at the campfire. They were hand in hand and, Cas noticed wryly, slightly out of breath.
“You got a leaf in your hair,” he told Soran, grinning at his friend’s rumpled clothing. Rowan caught the exchange and paused in the middle of spooning some stew into his mouth. Cas’s eyes widened when he saw the ever so faint blush spread over the elf’s cheeks, though he didn’t bother to speak up and defend himself.
Guilty as charged, Cas thought, his grin widening even further. “I guess things’re okay between them for now at least,” he whispered to Eremis, his own green eyes twinkling rather mischievously.
