Flower Amongst Thorns [Boy x Boy]

Chapter 20

"Artios open up. It's me." A low voice called out. A soft banging against the door followed right after.

Shit, Celyn.

It had already been an hour since they parted ways. It was the decided time for the sale...

Artios hastily shoved both keychains back into his pocket before opening the door with extreme caution, pulling it so that only a sliver of light was allowed to enter the room.

He peeked through the small slit to check who it was, and looked carefully from side-to-side to make sure there was no one else watching them before quickly ushering Celyn in.

She was wearing a pink bracelet and hook at the moment, which meant her pronouns were now She/her.

Artios remembered how when he first ran into the trader at the age of ten, she had explained how her pronouns changed according to who she felt like at the time, and that the colours of the hand accessories she wore, such as rings, bracelets and now hooks correlated with the pronouns she preferred to be used.

Once he had the colours memorized it was pretty simple to follow.

Celyn was completely out of her sweaty travel clothes, now dressed in a heavy yellow dress, tight at the top with puffy sleeves, decorated with a fancy black corset, and covered in large frills falling up to her knees like a large wave crashing against the shore.

She was also wearing a pair of thin fishnet stalkings and black high-heels, hair curled into ringlets that barely brushed against her shoulders.

Artios would never figure out how she changed her outfits that quickly and still managed to look so well put together all the time.

The swordsman could barely handle one change a day, and sometimes not even that much...

"Let's cut the small talk for today, I think we can both agree that we had enough of that at the pub this morning. I brought the amount in full," Celyn spoke softly with her hand held out, "Where's my treasure? The Reggis Fortitudo."

"I..." Artios started nervously before noticing something, or the lack there of it, "Where's the money? I don't see it anywhere."

The trader simply smirked at that.

Before the swordsman could even say or do anything else, she suddenly pulled up her skirt, earning an embarrassed, and very bewildered expression from the other.

"What are yo-", Artios stopped in his tracks when he saw three, black netted sacks filled with thick bars of gold wrapped around Celyn's waist, where the mesh of the skirt was usually placed.

What the...How did she walk in so swiftly with that much weight attached to her?! That had to be at least fifty kilograms worth of gold!

"Ouch. Kinda hurts that you still don't trust me after so many years of friendship." Celyn feigned offense, "You didn't just expect me to walk in with a huge black suitcase did you? That would look suspicious to anyone no matter how you see it."

"Of course. That's right..." The young thief blushed, embarrassed to admit that was exactly what he had pictured.

The trader's lips twisted into an amused smile. "You're dealing with a true professional here young'un, not some shady person off the street. I won't leave a trace behind, I assure you."

She then held her gloved hand out again, a little more impatiently this time, "Now, my gem please. I don't have all day in case you had forgotten."

Artios hesitated before slowly reaching into his pocket. He felt the smooth ridges of the Regiis Fortitudo burning against his palm when he touched it, as if it were getting engraved into it. As if it were begging him to not let go...

Suddenly his fathers words from the dream replayed in his head, the image of the bright flower, the Luna, carved into his mind.

"Go find him Arty, he needs you."

Ivy's bright, hopeful smile flashed in his head, all the times they spent together, their petty arguments, the weird moments where his heart started racing out of the blue...

"You know the money from that dumb rock isn't what you truly want. It's just your twisted way of running away from the reality, from trusting people..."

"Your dream was to have a big group of friends to do fun things with and finding true love, remember?"

The swordsman felt the little keychains in his pocket brushing against the back of his hand and knuckles.

"Thanks Art... for everything, "

"This was my last shot, and I had little hope, but now I might actually have a chance at finding the Luna..."

Artios didn't understand many things, his feelings included, but there was one thing he was sure of now.

He didn't want to let go of Ivy.

Even though the swordsman refused to admit it all this time, his heart pounded with fear every second they spent apart.

He couldn't stop thinking about the younger, the nineteenth birthday, the vine on his leg creeping closer and closer every second, for even one moment.
Even his dreams were about the small teen now!

Artios couldn't lose him.

He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he did.

He wanted to wake up to Ivy's mesmerizing golden-blue eyes every day, he wanted hear the younger rambling about stupid things that made no sense, he wanted to feed the teen all the cotton candy in the world and take him everywhere his heart desired.

No amount of alcohol could quench that feeling in his chest.

The simple fact was that he didn't want to be alone again...

His days with Ivy made him realize how miserable he had actually been for the past twelve years.

The twenty-year-old's life had been nothing beyond existing before the younger teen came along. He had somehow convinced himself that it was the only option he had.

Now Artios had the chance to gain a purpose, a meaning, someone to go back to.

Ivy saved him.

There was plenty of time to figure everything else out, but for now there was only one thing on the swordsman's mind. Getting back to Ivy.

It took him long enough to realize, and now there was absolutely no time left to waste.

They had to find the Luna.

"I'm sorry Celyn. I can't do this." Artios apologized, tucking the rock back into his pocket firmly.