The Lout's Pet Squirrel (og alcale)

Part 12

"The fuck are you doing here?"

Yeah, that was about the welcome that Alver had been anticipating. Although, somehow the predictability of Cale's wrath was comforting. Cale's sudden tailspin into unpredictable but calculated self destruction was unnerving.

"You're drunk." Alver said in lieu of an honest reply. "Come with me to sober up."

The way that Cale's face contorted was quite a sight to see but the expression of disgust he landed on was less appealing. "Sorry, I don't fuck slutty peasants." He slurred convincingly, stomping into Alver's personal space and jabbing a finger against his chest. "Especially–"

"–if you don't come with me right now, I'll spread rumors all throughout the territory that you're a secretly kind and loving person who is more intelligent and capable than your siblings could ever hope to be." Alver hissed, so low that only Cale could hear it.

It wasn't a shot in the dark.

It was the mounting suspicions that all culminated to this moment. Confirmed by the way Cale tensed terribly and his russet brown eyes widened. The slightest tremble in his hand that Alver might not have even noticed if he wasn't holding Cale's wrist so tightly.

Ah.

He'd finally figured something out about Cale Henituse.

And Cale knew that he knew it.

That was an unenviable position to be in. As a person who'd previously carried a secret that he had no intention of letting anyone know ever, Alver was aware of just all the reasons that Cale's eyes darkened with murderous intent.

Cale's secret certainly wasn't as dire as Alver's, but to Cale it was probably one of the most important things on the planet to him. And now it was in the hands of an untrustworthy thief. If Alver was in the reverse position, he really might have the bastard killed.

Cale collected his temper with surprising speed though. Letting out a shaky but determined breath before smirking at Alver as though he wasn't the least bit concerned. It was a convincing mask too. If Alver hadn't seen beneath it in those precious seconds, he really would have believed that he misjudged the topic.

"Lead the way then." Cale said in a low and disturbingly sober voice. It wasn't the soft tone he used with his pet squirrel or the exaggerated anger he used with everyone else. It was cold and calculative.

There was a man behind it all that Alver had never even met. That knowledge alone left him feeling strangely uneasy.

He wanted to know Cale. As impossible as that goal seemed.

Following the threatening order with the grace Alver was known for in his previous life, he walked down the dim streets of Westin City without being quite sure where to go. Taking Cale home wouldn't work. It was likely that Cale would sneak out again and besides, he ought to probably talk to Cale for long enough to assure him that his secret was secure if he didn't want Henituse funded assassins chasing his tail. But he'd also spent very little time in this territory outside of the comfort of Cale's home.

His feet somehow found his way beyond the city walls. Cale easily shrugged off the guards and Alver tried not to attract any attention to himself as they hit the treeline.

It would have been around here that Cale found him. Sick and injured and dropping from a tree. In a way, this would be a poetic place to come clean about it all. Although the admission was equally likely to save his life and to guarantee Cale killed him so Alver stowed away temptations for sincerity.

It was odd how often he was tempted for sincerity around Cale. He had spent his entire life lying without a single care for honesty and a few weeks with Cale made truth feel so tantalizing that he was constantly suppressing the urge to surrender to it.

Alver stopped and turned to face Cale, finally releasing his wrist now that they were alone and noting with a certain amount of dread that Cale still had a wine bottle clutched in his other fist. It was never good to learn that the enemy was armed.

"Why do you do it?"

Alver blinked. Surprised at his own question. His silver tongue failed him and he was asking an entirely banal question that was far more likely to get his head bashed in.

To his relief and surprise though, Cale didn't respond aggressively to the question.

Deep russet brown eyes bore into Alver's own without a single mask. The intensity of it was scarier than any anger Cale had previously expressed and he finally understood his desire for honesty with Cale.

He wanted Cale to be honest in return.

Cale's gaze searched for something and terrifyingly seemed to find it, cocking his head to the side and placing a hand on his hip with a sneer. "Well, holy fuck. You're being sincere."

...how could Cale see that in him...?

Then again, Alver was adept in spotting Cale's lies. Perhaps they were just too similar to properly deceive one another.

Alver cleared his throat, awkward and strange in this new tension. "You didn't answer my question."

Cale clicked his tongue, closing the distance between them in two powerful steps and pinning Alver against a tree. "And I'm not gonna." He said, his voice holding a promise and wrapping it around Alver's throat. "Tell me, thief. What do you think you know about me?"

Alver tried to focus on the attention rather than Cale's warmth but he just kept thinking about how different it was to be this close to Cale when he wasn't an animal. He tried to focus.

Right now, a dash of sincerity might just be key.

"I think you're acting out so that your step-family won't be scrutinized." What did the baron have to do with this though? Surely, he couldn't have enough political sway to ruin the powerful count family. "I think you were about to do something reckless and dangerous tonight."

Cale's expression gave nothing away and then, blessedly, there was distance between them and Cale gave Alver the space to breathe. "So you're not a thief after all." Cale mused, stretching his arms over his head and turned away from Alver. "You're a fucking stalker. That explains a lot."

Alver choked on air.

"I am not a–" Well, as a squirrel he certainly did spend a lot of his time following Cale, but it wasn't like that. "Why would you think that?"

Cale turned around, sending him an unimpressed glare before leaning down and picking up his abandoned wine bottle.

"C'mon, stalker. You're going to drink with me."

One day Alver was going to understand why he had so much trouble ignoring Cale's ridiculous commands.