Roses Wilt, Bites Scar [boyxboy]

Chapter VI

~Sunday 8th March 2011~

"If I didn't know you, brother, I would actually think you were chipper this morning," Keanu commented, sitting down across from Emeri at the table, curiosity in his bright eyes.

"Haven't you heard, Ke?" Rourke spoke before Emeri, nudging the man's arm with a playful smile on his lips, "Em bought a masochist, he's practically swooning."

"That might be pushing it, Ro," Mali interjected, looking as miserable as always whilst he continued to read from the stack of papers he had brought to breakfast with him, "you know Emeri isn't capable of any degree of love. Even if it is just some fling. He barely tolerates us," Emeri rolled his eyes, the subtle smile having drained completely from his face, leaving his near-permanent scowl in its place.

"I am sat right here, brothers, I can hear every word you speak," Emeri tapped his index finger on his glass, the ring he adorned making quiet clinking noises with every move.

"I like the idea of you settling, Em," Keanu wore a gentle smile, having recently voiced his opinions on loneliness ever since Mali had lost his lover, one of them had to be the soppy one after all, "it would be good for you to have a king by your side whilst you rule, father will like the idea."

"Just because Arlo's tastes are applicable to my own doesn't mean I'm in love with him," Emeri corrected his brothers' speculation, not particularly wanting rumours to begin. He didn't often allow gossip to be spread, especially not about something so personal.

"Well, I happen to like him," Rourke said, in an almost matter-of-fact type of way, "he's funny, and he doesn't whine like all your other toys. He seems... content, being here."

"How could anyone be content being Emeri's plaything?" Emeri looked toward Mali, who hadn't bothered to raise his gaze from the papers he was reading, however, the disdain in his expression was present as always. Emeri missed how his brother used to be, how they would laugh together, kill together. He was a shell of the man he used to be, and Emeri only wished he could do something to fix that.

"A masochist surely would," Keanu mused, pushing what little of his breakfast remained around on his plate, "Emeri is any masochist's wet dream. He's not that bad, Mali, you know that," Emeri had found recently that although Keanu seemed to be exploring his more empathetic side, he too was standing against Mali. They were butting heads, when Emeri was involved anyway, where they used to stand as a united front. Emeri wondered if Keanu pitied him, or whether he was growing tired of Mali's constant depression as well.

"I know," Mali muttered, followed by a heavy sigh, "I'm going up to Superficiem Mundi for the day, don't expect me back until late," Mali didn't wait around for any response from his brothers, simply picking up the papers he had been so engrossed with and stalking from the room without another word.

"I worry about him," Keanu admitted in a small voice once he was sure Mali was gone, "he doesn't seem to be getting any better," Emeri stared at the now-empty seat where Mali once was, not wanting to voice his own opinions on his brother and worry the others.

"Would you? It has been over two centuries now, he's grieving. With time, it isn't going to heal his wounds, he's going to get worse."

"Don't be so macabre, Rourke," Emeri hadn't intended to sound so venomous yet he always found himself so on edge whenever Mali's mental health came up in conversation. He didn't like to think of the possibilities that could follow if the man decided to do anything stupid and possibly injure himself.

"Sorry, Em," Rourke murmured, staring down into his lap like a scolded child, fidgeting with the hem of the light grey sweater he was wearing.

"Mali will get better," Emeri rose from his seat, an intensity set into his icy stare, "be it through the curse being severed or finding someone else to patch up the wounds. He will be fine," Emeri didn't want to dwell on the topic of his brother's possible early demise, deciding to follow his lead and leave the dining hall before he lost his temper.