The Alrevia Order [Elisop]

#14 Butterfly effect

Check the chapter notes here if you wish to have a summary of the previous chapters since I didn't update in a very longgggg while

> https://archiveofourown.org/works/34177702/chapters/130937962

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If the time before he returned to the past was counted, the two young men had known each other for several months. One was a pitiful man still afflicted by grief, and the other was constantly confronted with his living nightmares. The hardships they faced could make a person desperate enough, but the support they gave each other had brought them together in their time of need in so many ways.

Perhaps it was the nightly din of the fireworks that dazed his mind, but Aesop was still struggling to fully grasp the situation. All he could think about was Eli's lips pressed against his, their chests touching, his tongue exploring every nook and cranny of his mouth. He found himself pressed up against the wall of the tower while the dark-haired man's hands were still on his waist. Only when the air ran out did they separate, their faces still burning bright red.

Aesop clutched at Eli's sleeves, holding on to the dark-haired man as if to make sure it was all real. The latter snapped out of his trance, lowering his gaze timidly to the blond's lips. For heaven's sake, had he really just done what he'd just done- But the coldness he felt against his lips hit him without any leniency with the truth. Now what? He'd just made things even more complicated.

"I..." he muttered hesitantly, "I don't know what came over me..."

Aesop felt like saying the same thing.

"It's alright."

A lie obviously, but he couldn't think of anything better.

"Erm- I think we've covered the whole festival, why don't we go back to the inn quietly...?"

Aesop nodded and the two knights made their way down the tower, this time in dead silence and with some distance keeping them apart. It was already quite late by the time they arrived and many of the streets were beginning to empty, with stalls closing one after the other for the night. Outside the inn, they came upon the rest of the group by coincidence.

"Oh, Eli, Aesop!" called out Naib, waving at them.

Eli was the only one to react, as Aesop still seemed lost in thought. Naib picked up on it immediately, but even if it was obvious that something was wrong, he didn't know what and it would have been inappropriate to ask the blond in public like that. Well, that was only the opinion of the young knight, standing next to him, Norton smirked as he rubbed his chin with a look of suspicion.

"Looks like the innocent knight knows how to be assertive," he stated.

"Mind your own business, Campbell," Patricia retorted with a sigh before entering the inn first.

The black-haired man laughed as he followed, preceded by Eli and Aesop, until only Naib was left behind, still confused.

A few days passed and the festival came to an end, just as the last autumn leaves fell. Hamel usually had an abundance of trees, which gave it its charm, between the perennial vegetation in symbiosis with its inhabitants, and the wistful orange hues of the late season. So when winter came, this magnificent region felt more like a wasteland, with temperatures dropping very quickly.

During this period, Eli and Aesop tried to behave as they always had, but it was clear that a certain amount of tension remained. For good reason, Eli had promised himself to hold back until the danger posed by Antonio and his plans had been overcome, but his feelings got the better of him in the end and he had reached the point where he no longer knew whether to halt his relationship with Aesop or continue on the path of courting the blond. At the same time, the man with emerald eyes was undeniably far from being the kind of person to make the first move. In short, the two lovebirds were undoubtedly in love with each other, but they were asking themselves too many questions to admit it, much to the dismay of those around them.