[2] WEEPING MONK║you're not what I was looking for

48| Risky Business - 𝐈

═ 𝘙𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘺 𝘉𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 ═

Ari receives a letter from the human king and Lancelot is offered an opportunity from a very unlikely source. The two also relearn the dangers and pleasures of wandering off into the night.

[CW// implied/sexual content and mature themes. Strong language]

❖

lately I've been
craving you more

❖

"You know how I said that you didn't look tense anymore?"

Steel clashed with a sharp ringing against steel.

"Well I take it all back." Hector struggled for breath as he stepped on his backfoot to avoid the point of his brother's sword.

Lancelot huffed and lowered his blade safely to his side, his arm hanging stiffly. "I'm not tense," he said. His brother was yet to experience what he was truly like when tense, and it was something that Hector should endeavour to never see.

"Really?" Hector looked at him in utter disbelief. His brother was so transparent sometimes for someone so good at keeping his emotions contained. "Why else would you drag me from my bed - which was warm by the way - to do... this?" Hector gestured his sword up tiredly between them, a bead of sweat rolling down from his temple.

The irritated eyes of the elder Ash dragged off to the forest, watching as the morning dew dripped from the evergreen leaves up above them. "Practice," was the only gruff answer which he gave, before narrowing his gaze at the ironic laugh that came from across the small clearing.

"You of all Fey don't need to practice hurling that blade at someone." Hector disengaged from this sparring entirely, letting his sword hang by his side. Tugging on the collar of his coat, he tried to get some cooler air against his hot skin. Lancelot was moving more than usual in comparison to how he himself was stood still for once, his brother never leaving his sight even if he refused to meet it. "What's going on?" He asked genuinely, "You've been grumpier than usual for two days now."

The elder Ash didn't answer him, pretending to be interested in his blade. So Hector let his gaze drop to the short grass, still puffing to regain his breaths. "Is this because of me and what I told you?"

Lancelot locked eyes with the younger, adamantly refusing that idea - "No." He wouldn't allow for his brother to think that. The initial shock of Hector's bold admission that he does not just love women had passed, and Lancelot was accepting that and Hector as he was. Nothing had changed in the way that he treats his brother, though his mind turned with questions that he was not quite ready to ask yet.

That was a relief to hear, seeing as Hector was still treading on eggshells regarding that conversation. As he watched Lancelot begin to pace again, that infamous sword rotating once or twice around his wrist with a whoosh, he tried to think of some other reason for this sour mood. He knew that it was not because of Ari - he had seen them together enough to know that there wasn't a tussle between them. Nor was Lancelot annoyed with the boy any more than usual.