Time - (Identity V-Elisop)

Chapter 27

(MATURE CONTENT WARNING AND NSFW MENTION)

Aesop sat at the dining table, ice held over his left hand. Emily had gone to her med office to get some bandages and stuff to treat the small injury.

Unbeknownst to the embalmer and doctor, the painter had seen the small commotion as he was going downstairs to get some quick breakfast. He offered to help clean up the spill whilst Emily grabbed her medical supplies, strange of him to be so kind in such an early morning but Aesop didn't question it, maybe because they were close friends? Even though he could have a cold distant attitude to some of his closest friends at time.

His gaze was set at the far kitchen window, where some of the flowers from the garden were visible. He could see the roses Emma had planted from quite a distance, even though there were many colourful flowers in the garden, the roses brought the brightest feel to it. Emma spoke about how she planted the pink ones for Melly in specific, and the orange ones for Tracy since the three were great friends. She also planted yellow roses. Aesop never asked if they were for someone or just because they looked nice. Aesop liked the yellow ones,they gave him a distant sense of comfort, his mother had yellow roses near her grave. Now that he was at the manor, he wondered if anyone took care of her grave, or if it was forgotten with the hundreds of other ones in the graveyard. His mother was a lovely woman, though he hardly had any memories of her left, he could remember her smile, and how caring her eyes were, and how she was always positive, no matter what happened. He only had one or two old photographs of her, to his dismay.

He broke out of his trance as he broke his gaze from the window. Everything felt louder, Edgar mopping the floor in pure silence, Emily in the next room hardly making a sound apart from the squeaking of the medicine cabinet, and even Aesop himself, who was just sitting quietly looking towards the floor.

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The mercenary awoke when he felt some slight movement behind him, he was a light sleeper. He looked behind him and saw Eli, the seer. The mood in the room was quite and calm, mostly because they had only just woken up. Eli's blindfold was left on the nightstand as it was yesterday. Naib sat up as he made awkward eye-contact with Eli. Drunk as they both were, Naib's alcohol tolerance was somewhat better and he remembered the events of last night, and with the look on Eli's face, he did too.

"So we hooked up," Naib broke the silence as he held back a chuckle. As big as the topic was, it was kind of ironic.

"Yeah," Eli practically burst into laughter, he hadn't laughed this hard in a small while. Agreeably, there was nothing funny about the matter, but both men found it stupidly funny.

"Hopefully nobody heard us," Naib laughed as he wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. None of them had any logical thoughts in their head, and they hardly even thought it though. It was a stpid idea, the both of them could admit that in a heartbeat.

"The door was locked, right?" Eli was used to too many instances where he and Aesop had forgotten to lock the door.

"Yeah, it's still locked now," The mercenary pointed to the locked door, the window was closed as well, he knew that residents of the manor had the habit of midnight walks, and with a window even slightly open, someone could definitely hear them.

The silence fell upon them once again, it had no feeling though. It was just dead, empty silence, but it was light and calm at the same time. Nor Eli or Naib spoke, they just enjoyed the calmness and quiet of the room. Eli was sat up and elaning on the headboard, whilst Naib was slouched over but still sat up.

"What is this between us?" Eli spoke up, he wasn't sure what of an answer to expect, since all this was quite sudden and quick. So much had happened in the last two days he still hadn't any time to properly process it. He fidgeted with his hands as he looked around the room. He was used to it but still hadn't been going there as often.

"I don't know, what would you like it to be?" Naib answered , he would respect if the two of them were to stay friends, although that would make things awkward between them to say the least.

Eli took a deep breath, he opened his mouth to speak, but didn't say anything at all. He himself didn't know, and he didn't have a proper answer even if his life relied on it.

"...I don't know," He replied after a minute had gone by. "It would be reasonable to become lovers...but I don't think I can bring myself to it," Eli felt guilty rejecting his best friend again, twice now.

"It's alright," Naib answered, he hesitated putting his hand on Eli's, since it was directly next to his, but he decided against it. He did truly respect his feelings towards all of this, even if they woukd still have to remain as friends.

"I'm sorry, I feel like I've been using you," Eli spoke quietly as he avoided eye contact. "You're the best friend I have ever had," He professed. The seer noticed the warmth of the other male's hand on his, he smiled a bit under his breath.

"Before you go, you'll probably want to put your robes on," The mercenary said as he pointed towards the floor. He'd practically only just realised that the both of them were still half-naked.

"Thanks," The seer chuckled as he kicked his legs over the edge. The air was cold, he only noticed that once he left the warmth of Naib's bed. It wasn't too cold, but chilly enough to wake him up a bit more.

"And you might want to take a look at the mirror," He added, also getting up from the bed, picking up some of his previously discarded clothes.

Both confused and nervous, Eli walked over to the small mirror the mercenary had on his desk. He examined himself in the mirror as his friend advised himself to. The first thing he noticed was red-purple bruises littering his neck and collarbones, they stood out against his tan skin, and would be noticable if not covered up.

Naib laughed a bit at Eli's reaction to the hickeys, he was slightly shocked and surprised, even slightly pissed about how visible they were.

"I think it'll be fine, my robes cover up my neck either way," He went back to putting his clothes on, the silence returned but neither knew what to say. And whatever Eli had going on with his lovelife had to be sorted, it was an absolute mess.