Tortoise and Fox [BL]

4.9

"Don't touch me."

Out of breath, Amari climbed the last stairs. The moons had risen to their peak, and even the endless choir of music faded away with the late darkness.

Amari had been intercepted—he could not find it in his heart to turn away the hospitality of the townsfolk, so he answered their endless questions as they arrived. The last few people trickled past, leaving Amari alone to survey the plaza. Locked carts and an empty platform where the musicians once stood. The outstretched twinkle of the lanterns throughout the kingdom matched the sky in crowdedness.

Leishan—neither human nor fox—was around.

Amari made his way to the ledge rails. He squeezed it tight. His gloves stretched thin and strained against the shaking of his hands. After the gusts made their way through Amari's hair, the turmoil in his chest began to settle.

It was reasonable to leave after so long. Amari didn't know how early Leishan might've arrived. How long he had been kept waiting.

To be left...waiting alone in expectation...

Amari laughed at his own crippling insecurity. In the end, he really would end up doing nothing but hurting Leishan. One by one, Amari let reason snuff out every flame of possibility.

It wouldn't have worked out.

The one he loves isn't you.

You could never love someone else.

Amari turned away, pulling his hands away from the railing with a lurch. His shoulders were heavy, like lead. He stared at his gloves, before biting his lip and tugging them off.

Halfway through, white jumped into the corner of his vision. When he looked up, he found Leishan—wind-blown silver hair, eloquent silver gloves, and the amber glow of his eyes. Amari froze mid-glove pull. To take off his glove where only one person around was the one before him was—

Red suited Leishan's face, like a softening hue around his sharp nose bridge and sloped jaw. Really, really adorable. Amari drank in the sight, before clearing his throat.

"I just was... planning to take them off since the night is almost over."

Leishan nodded, "Of course. I understand it...yes, it's a deeply meaningful ritual."

Shrugging off the pervading embarrassment, Amari spun on his heel and paced back to the plaza edge, smoothly jumping over the rail and on its ledge. Leishan followed and sat beside Amari with an obedient disposition, waiting for Amari to finish fixing his gloves.

"I left to check on the person I arrived in Beijie with, so I had to climb the stairs. I didn't think you'd arrive right after I'd left," Leishan said.

Leishan's smile was gorgeous, yet cautious–as if built on a million unasked questions Leishan knew would shut down the conversation.

"Once the sun fell past the lowest building rooftops, I already gave up on the notion of you arriving. So this is a surprise," he laughed.

"I came... I don't know why I came," Amari admitted, meeting Leishan's piercing eyes. I thought you'd be upset—maybe even cry if I didn't."

Leishan coughed and fidgeted with his gloves. "I'm glad you came. This was enough—I won't coerce any further interaction between... us. So, I won't try and commune with you when you call upon my power."

"No," Amari sharply interjected, "don't!"

The anxiety in his voice surprised them both. Looking on at the neverending world of buildings past his own slow-swinging legs suddenly jump started a dizzy nausea. A tight, uncomfortable feeling clung onto the walls of Amari's stomach.