Dying Ichor

FOURTEEN

Lapetus found it strange for some reason. In their usual routine, Lapetus was always the one sticking close to Elias no matter where he was or what the boy was doing despite how boring it seemed.

Now, it's been switched.

"You're so cool, Lapetus." Elias snaked his hands around the man's shoulders and placed his chin on top of Lapetus' head, peering down at the work in front of them. "I didn't know you were talented in pottery."

Lapetus shifted, finding it a little awkward how Elias was pressing up behind his back to get a closer look.

"It's nothing," Lapetus mumbled out. He accidentally made a small dent in the clay due to his flustered state, but he immediately tried fixing it.

It only made Elias cling onto him further. "You're really good at making these! I mean, you've already made two not too long ago!"

Elias took a glance behind him at the ceramics sitting on top of their dinner table. He sighed at the image of them. Not only did they come out without any marks, Lapetus took the time to paint them himself with different images and made them even more exquisite.

They were beautiful... Elias wondered if Lapetus had been an artisan before.

A thought struck his mind and before he knew it, Elias poked Lapetus' shoulder a few times and timidly called out, "Hey..."

"Yes?"

"Do you think you could teach me?"

Lapetus momentarily stopped his hands. "You want me to teach you how to make these?"

"Think about it for a second." Elias grabbed his face from behind and tilted them over to the table where the others were sitting. "We sell some, we make money. More money, less problems in the future."

Lapetus fought the urge to grin. "You really want to sell some? If that was what you wanted, I'll just make them myself for you. But even if I create more, I doubt we can sell any. I'm not that good-"

"Excuse me?" Elias pointed at them and nearly exclaimed, "But those look so cool! I've never seen them look so perfect before!"

Before meeting the brunet, Elias always wandered throughout the bustling street markets to alleviate his boredom back in Corinth. He's seen all sorts of crafts and what was considered art, but none of them came close to what Lapetus made.

The images he made on those ceramics were extraordinary. One of them had vibrant colors that perfectly blended in with the others, creating a lovely scene of the ocean and sky with the sun setting. The other, Lapetus painted it the longest, taking his time to create mountains and animals that looked so real it managed to make Elias star struck.

He didn't even know how Lapetus managed to substitute a kiln for them, yet the man was able to make a small fire pit and watched over his creations carefully.

Elias hurriedly grasped onto Lapetus' right shoulder, shaking him a little. "Teach me for fun at least! Please?"

Lapetus was at a loss for words. He was embarrassed seeing Elias in awe of what he made, he really didn't think they were good.

But hearing Elias praise him made his cheeks turn red. The thought of teaching him didn't sound bad as well if he was being honest. Plus, Elias hardly found anything interesting since he was busy looking through scrolls and muttering nonsensical things under his breath.

If Elias was that interested in his skills, Lapetus supposed it wouldn't hurt to humor the male for a while.

He started teaching Elias little by little. He saw the boy struggling with trying to form the clay for a while, so he took over and gently placed his hands over Elias'. Lapetus scrunched his brows together, the two of them completely focused with fixing it as he mumbled out small words of encouragement.