Apocrypha

Chapter 11

"My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest."
Isaiah 32:18

THE MORNING CAME quickly, Gabriel not even realizing he had fallen asleep. He could taste the bitterness of the mead rising from the back of his throat onto his tongue.

Next to him was a sleeping Lysander, deep in his dreams. Gabriel noticed the two were cuddled together on his bed. He hadn't remembered sleeping next to him. Luckily, Gabriel felt around and didn't feel like they had sex last night.

Lysander's hand was intertwined with his hand. Gabriel brought their clasped hands to his face and saw how rough the other man's hand was.

Gabriel carefully tried to release their hands but ended up waking the man next to him. He sat up and watched as his partner in bed was trying hard not to make any noise.

The black-haired man just chuckled, pulling their hands towards him causing Gabriel to land on his chest.

"Morning," Lysander muttered.

Gabriel looked away, but didn't release their hands despite that was his main goal.

"We need to get up. It's-"

"Sunday," Lysander finished. "Isn't that the Holy Day? You don't have to worry about anything."

Still, Gabriel got off his chest and finally their hands were free. He got off the bed and began to look for clothes to take a quick shower.

He vaguely remembered last night. "Lysander, did we do anything last night?" He asked. There were two pendulating thoughts in his mind. One: He hopes nothing has happened so his consciousness can remain clear. Two: Something did occur because of his affinity towards the other man.

"Relax, Gabriel. Nothing happened," he said, choosing to omit Gabriel's hope that they would fall for one another. "We got drunk, which we should try not to do next time. We just slept in the same bed."

Gabriel wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed. He simply nodded and left to take a shower. The remedy that Lysander put on him the night before helped with burns on his shoulders and back. It didn't hurt as much as it did.

In the kitchen, some people sat around and ate their morning meal. Gabriel and Lysander sat in their chairs.

"Morning, boys." Kari said as she took her seat at the head of the table. "You both look well rested." She mentioned.

Lysander nodded. "We slept together last night." He blurted out.

Everyone at the table stopped eating or talking and just looked at the two men. Almost everyone knew that two were getting closer, and some weren't surprised. Gabriel, on the other hand, felt his face get red.

"N-No! We didn't do anything!" Gabriel quickly added. "We just slept in the same bed, but didn't do more. I swear." He insisted.

Cassio and Horatio gave each other glances. "Whatever you say." Cassio said.

The table moved on from that and began to talk about what was going to be happening that day. They discussed needing to start collecting wood for the winter and helping with the upcoming harvest festival.

The town is something that slowly began to interest Gabriel. He only knew small glances from it and was curious to see more. He remembered the words of that man who was collecting mushrooms, more specifically, when he said the entire town knew of his presence.

Which means that surely, he would be allowed to go into town and not have to worry about people spotting him. For now, Gabriel should focus on his house chores before even thinking about asking to go to town.