Simon - TCF

0.1 : Pre-Young Master

"Young Master, um, Young Master, please wake up," The soft voice of Evangelina said as she gently but quickly tapped on his shoulder.

"Mmm... Five more minutes," Simon groaned, snuggling closer to the warm thing in his arms.

"Eh?! Young Master!" She whisper yelled. "I'm so sorry, our Young Master doesn't normally drink this much," Evangelina whispered to another person.

"Hm..." The thing Simon was holding vibrated. It almost sounded like a tired groan.

"Hm?" Simon pried his eyes open for a second before closing them again. The damn sun was too bright. And that red hair was almost as bright as a stop light. "Hm?"

Bright red hair?

Simon pried his eyes open again to see that he had snuggled into someone's neck. His arms were wrapped around the person and they were sleeping, too. The mysterious man's head was resting on Simon's arm and Simon's hands linked together around him to make sure the other guy didn't fall or move.

Blushing nearly as red as the attractive man's hair, Simon released his hands and tried to pull away when the man furrowed his brows and pulled Simon's arm back.

That's when all the memories came flooding back to him.

Simon came to visit the Henituse territory to see the trash son of the Count family in real life. He had heard and read stories about him. Cale Henituse, the young man who enjoys drinking to a fault, is who Simon came to meet.

By the time Simon settled at an inn and greeted the Head Henituse family and one of their sons, Basen, the sun had begun to dip below the tree line. Bubbles of excitement were popping in his gut as Simon walked over to the nearest bar in town.

There, he found Cale and joined him. The young man was definitely more attractive than the rumors made him out to be. Fair skin, silky yet messy red hair, and reddish-brownish eyes. The only odd part was, Cale looked a lot less built than Simon expected.

For someone who could destroy an entire bar with only a bottle of wine, why was he so thin?

The entire night, Cale and Simon were drinking and laughing together over the other nobles. They acted like utter children! But Cale didn't throw a single bottle. When he tried to, Simon took it away with mock hurt to ask, "Why would you waste a good bottle of alcohol?"

Cale grinned and snatched it back before gulping down the rest of its contents and adding it to his pile of empty bottles.

At some point, Simon was getting pretty tired. He hadn't drank that much since his sister's marriage. It was a very joyous occasion.

Simon's head started drooping despite his attempts to stay awake. The sky was dark, the pub only had a few candles lit for the two nobles, and there was no one else awake or in the pub. When Simon finally gave into his exhaustion, his head fell on Cale's shoulder.

Cale laughed at Simon's inability to hold his liquor before Cale felt his own body start to fall. Simon was still partially awake at this time and wrapped his arms around Cale to stop him from falling.

Cale was delirious at this point. He kept laughing until Simon finally fell asleep and Cale knocked out in Simon's arms.

Using his free hand to rub his eyes, Simon did his best to fully wake up. When he did, he pat Cale's back, "Hey, Cale, wake up. We passed out here."

"Mm," Cale frowned, turning away from Simon but still holding his arm.

Sighing, Simon mentally counted to three.

"One...

Two...

Three-"

-And Simon slid his arm out from under Cale. Cale's head thumped against the bar's counter and he painfully woke up. Groaning again, Cale slowly looked up to see a stranger next to him.

"Who the hell are you?" Cale grunted, lifting himself off of the bar's counter.

"Your drinking buddy from last night, Young Master Cale," Simon grinned, knowing Cale would probably act like that at first. "Nice to meet you. I am Simon Winterly, son of Viscount Winterly."

Cale Henituse wasn't the only one with a reputation.

"Ha," Cale smirked, "I guess birds of a feather really do flock together."

"What do you think about allowing me to become your official drinking partner?" Simon tilted his head, smirking back at the guy.

"Why should I let the son of a Viscount be my drinking partner? I'm the son of a Count," Cale laughed, gesturing to someone behind Simon.

"I can do a lot more than drink, Young Master Cale," Simon grinned, "Name anything."

"Sing?" Cale was starting off simple. He wanted to see how badly this Simon person wanted to be associated with him. It wasn't the first time someone has attempted to befriend Cale, but it was definitely the first time someone got through the night.

"Yup."

"Play an instrument?" Cale asked as two drinks slid over to the young men. Cale immediately started drinking it to soothe his hang-over.

"Obviously," Simon sipped on the drink in front of him. It was beer this time. Subtly, Simon left the drink in front of him. Wine, Simon liked. Beer, Simon gave to the nearest person around.

"Fight?" Cale raised an eyebrow.

"I know my way around a sword and a bow," Simon confidently shrugged.

"How good are you at business?" Cale let his grin become wild. He doubted that this noble in particular would have anything.

Too bad for Cale, Simon isn't what he seems (in more ways than one), "I have started two this last year and they are prospering quite nicely. A third will commence soon since we are still building it."

Clearly Cale need to try harder to get rid of this annoying person, "Can you tell the difference between Dublet and Caesar wine?"

"Dublet is sweet and Caesar is bittersweet. You can't get rid of me that easily, Young Master," Simon winked, leaning against the counter with a smug look.

"I can, Young Master Simon," Cale smiled politely, standing up with the beer in hand and walking away.

Simon watched Cale leave with two of the servants behind them. Cale's servants were a young man with bright orange hair and an elderly man, who gave Simon a dark smile when they left. Simon waved at them with a ginger smile.

"Y-Young Master, you know we really shouldn't get too close to Young Master Cale. You've heard the rumors," Evangelina whispered, glancing between her master and the last place Cale was.

"That's exactly why I want to get closer, Eva. I want to know how he ticks. He's, by far, the most interesting noble I've come across," Simon smiled, standing up from the stool. "Eva, did you pay for last night?"

"Yes, Young Master," Evangelina bowed her head slightly.

"Good. Now, let's head back to the inn. I feel like I'm drenched in alcohol. It gets sticky after a while," Simon grimaced, leaving the pub with Evangelina.

"You are drenched in alcohol, Young Master," Evangelina wiped away some sweat from her forehead.

...

I'm so excited! I know, I really should stop writing so many stories at once; but when I get the idea, I can't stop! I swear, I'm possessed by the urge to write gay stories--

Though, I used to write straight stories when I was a kid... What happened to me?

Wattpad.

What do y'all think so far?