The Purple Haired Craze

In Which Saracen Gets A Bit Distracted

Saracen was seriously struggling to focus on the meeting; the words that were leaving Grand Mage Noxious’ mouth were going in one ear and other the other.

The problem?

Dexter Vex.

Saracen knew things. It was the discipline that he was currently practicing, but whilst he wasn’t an extremely strong mind reader, meaning some details did not reach his mind, it was crystal clear what Dexter was thinking about and it was incredibly distracting for him.

He forced his mind to ignore his blonde friend’s thoughts and focused his mind back to the talk the Grand Mage was giving.

“We are not currently aware of Mevolent’s base, but we are pretty certain that it is still in Ireland. The African Sanctuary is trying to provide us aid, but keep losing track of their teleporters,” the Grand Mage had been saying when Saracen finally managed to tune himself back into the discussion. “The Elders and I believe that it is necessary for us to send a group of people to scout the areas in Ireland that we know of that could be good hideouts for Mevolent and his army. We have some ideas of where to look, but we are in need of volunteers.”

Roshan stepped forward. “My son, Skulduggery, and his friends here are very capable young mages. Seeing as we are in need of scouts, but I doubt we can spare any of our older mages. We can rely on them to scout for us to allow our army to build up. They can buy us the time we need.”

They all looked at each other. Saracen gave Dexter a look, partially to try and tell him that he knew what he was thinking about and, on the other hand, trying to convey his surprise towards Roshan’s proposal. He hadn’t done a very good job at relaying his emotions to Dexter, who looked a little confused at his wiggling eyebrows and turned back towards the Grand Mage, resuming his incredibly distracting thoughts.

Sigh

“What do you say, gentlemen?” the Grand Mage asked.

Skulduggery looked back at them, giving a shrug. Saracen nodded at him, along with all the others, except Anton, who kept a stony face. “I guess we can take the mission, if you want us to, Grand Mage,” Skulduggery told Noxious, with his charm on, just in case.

“Just one thing.”

“What’s that, Grand Mage?”

“You need a seventh person to go with you six,” Noxious said. “Just to make sure.”

Saracen raised an eyebrow at the blatant superstition, rolling his eyes at the idea that it impacted missions in anyway.

“Of course, Grand Mage,” Skulduggery said and the meeting went on to explain the details of their first mission.

“So, who is going to be our seventh person, Skul?” Dexter asked as when they were all seated together in their carriage again.

“Valkyrie.”

“Seriously?” Saracen asked.

“It’s not just because you like her, right?” Ghastly asked him.

“Of course not,” the green eyed boy half-yelled, indignantly. “She is genuinely a capable woman with strong powers and I think she would help us greatly.”

“What about Liv?” Erskine said, staring intently out of the window, still trying not to look at Skulduggery. “We can’t just leave her alone for an unknown period of time.”

Anton sat up at the mentioning of Liv’s name.

“I don’t think her skill set would help us,” Skulduggery stated, not hiding the cold edge in his voice. “We can leave her with my mother if she wants, or we can send her to Ely or Lena’s house, if she wants company.”

Anton slumped back again. “Makes sense,” he muttered, not annoyed at the decision, but a bit sad at the idea that he would need to leave her for a while.

“You’re okay with that, right Anton?” Ghastly asked.

“Absolutely fine.”

It was late when they finally got home. Roshan took Anton and Skulduggery home, leaving Erskine with the others at Ghastly’s house.

Saracen and Dexter had a permanent room for the two of them in a room in the attic of the little tailor shop. The two of them practically raced upstairs, despite Ghastly’s mother calling them back down to come and eat.

“Let them go, mother,” Ghastly told her. “They’ve been like this all day. I swear that if they got the chance to, they would have disappeared of to an alcove.”

“They really need to get together properly,” Anastasia Ragnhailt muttered, as she started to dish out the soup into Ghastly, Erskine and Savage’s bowls, ignoring the empty places.

As soon as the door closed, Saracen pulled Dexter towards him. “You have been so distracting all day,” he murmured into the blonde’s ear.

“How is that?” Dexter said, kissing along the base of his neck.

“Well, for one, you are undoubtedly the most good looking person I have seen so far,” Saracen mumbled, rubbing Dexter’s hair gently, guiding him over to the bed. “And secondly, you were having some incredibly interesting thoughts earlier today that meant my mind was not exactly focusing where it should have been.”

“How is the fact that you are able to read my thoughts my fault?”

“You were having the thoughts.” They fell onto the bed, kissing deeply, Dexter clutching the sheets, Saracen wrapping his arms around his body.

At one point they broke away gently, shuffling so that they were facing each other, holding hands and smiling at the other.

“Do you think we could ever have a long lasting relationship together?” Dexter asked suddenly.

“I doubt it, knowing us.”

“I know, but we could always try.”

Saracen gave it some thought. “Maybe,” he said eventually. “I just struggle to see it happening, knowing what we’re like.”

Dexter sat up, looking a bit annoyed and slightly upset. “You mean, play boys?”

The darker haired boy cringed inwardly. He hadn’t meant to upset him. “Exactly that. We aren’t really well known for being dedicated and faithful partners.”

“No, that’s true.” There was still a cool edge to his voice.

Saracen hoisted himself up as well, looking a bit nervous, but fixing a look into the other’s eyes. “We can keep coming back to us, if you want-”

“I do.”

“But we can also try it out with others,” Saracen finished. “Think about it; we will probably be alive for a long time and we can’t know for sure that we are right for each other.”

Dexter nodded, looking a bit forlorn, but understanding what the darker haired boy was getting at. He leaned in to hug Saracen.

“I don’t mean to say I don’t like you, Dex. I just don’t want to get this wrong.”

“Neither do I.”