inevitable entanglements » a.i. + l.h.

4

"Hey, take a look at my plan."

Ashton said, his eyes still trained on the piece of paper in front of him. He'd somehow gotten his hands on a map of every single room in the castle.

"How does it work?"

Michael asked, momentarily looking up from the ancient medicine recipes to eye the mess of scratches.

"I think Luke only goes to a place once, so I crossed out all the rooms he's been to already."

"That's actually a good idea."

His half-brother replied, seemingly amazed. Ashton wanted to roll his eyes, but he was too proud.

"There's only one problem," Gabriel said. "There're still quite a lot of rooms left. How do you plan on keeping an eye on all of them? Are you going to ask some servants?"

"No, I'd rather not. W-we can't trust them. What if they start to suspect something? They can't know I'm gay."

Michael closed his eyes with a sigh, his stomach churning after hearing those words.

"Ashton, this isn't supposed to have anything to do with you being gay. This is just an exercise and a way to make a new friend. Are you-?"

Ashton looked at his hands in defeat, his lips forming a straight line. It was the only answer Michael needed.

"I-I don't know. I've- I've never really-"

"It's okay, don't worry. What's so bad about it?"

He felt his teacher's firm hand on his shoulder and sighed again.

"Gabriel, we don't even know if he's gay."

Michael whispered, afraid to hurt Ashton with the truth. His chances of actually getting a relationship were very small, if not non-existing.

"Ashton should fall in love. There's nothing wrong with it. I've been in love so many times and it's a great feeling."

After sighing, Michael decided to keep his pessimistic thoughts to himself. There were other things that had to be thought of, like a way for Ashton to track Luke.

*

Later that afternoon, Michael knocked on Ashton's door. After a muffled come in from Ashton, he opened the door.

Ashton laid sprawled on the bed, reading a book. He looked up when Michael came in, a hopeful smile on his face.

"I checked the list with all the names of the servants we hired," Michael said. "There wasn't a single Luke."

They had hoped to find out more about him if they knew his name.

"At least we now know why he's so secretive."

Ashton sighed, letting his head fall on Odyssey, which was awfully hard.

"C'mon, don't give up. Let's take another look at the map, yeah?"

He folded the map open, spreading it over the duvet. So far, only four rooms had been scratched.

"He's probably Christian, right?"

"I hope not."

"Why not? If he is, we have a place to start. I reckon he goes to the chapel every morning."

Michael was right, but Ashton hated going to church. The castle had its own chapel, but there was a tapestry of homosexuals pictured with devils. So he only went to the most important worships, like the ones on Christmas or Easter. Luckily, the servants didn't suspect anything - non-believers weren't safe -, they thought he visited their private chapel every day.

The possibility of Luke being Christian made Ashton realise how hopeless the whole situation was. Even if they managed to become friends, just friends, he would have to hide an important part of him.

The idea of going to worship kept him up at night, which was quite unfortunate, because it started at half past six.

He still had vague memories of going there as a kid, before he knew he wasn't into girls and before Gabriel showed him the world.

Ever since Michael and Ashton met him, he'd been the man they looked up to. He hadn't forced his knowledge upon them, he just let them discover everything theirselves.

Even though he didn't know enough to teach them everything, Michael's medical studies for example, he tried to help them find the right information.

He showed them that maybe, there wasn't an angry little man who looked down at the earth and punished people. You couldn't sell your sins, nor does going to church make you a good person.

And he did all that with unending patience.

That's why Ashton found himself knocking on Gabriel's door in the middle of the night. He would've had a hard time finding his room in the dark, if it weren't for the many midnight trips with this room as their destination he'd made through-out his childhood.

"Ashton or Michael?"

Gabriel's sleepy voice was muffled by the thick wood, but Ashton managed to recognise the catchphrase anyway. They'd like to make sure none of the other servants visited Gabriel's room.

"Ashton."

After replying, Ashton slowly opened the door, illuminating the room with his candle. What he saw was a sleepy looking Gabriel entangled in his sheets.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

He asked, his eyes widened a little at the sight of the teenager. Even in the dim candlelight he could see what a mess Ashton was.

His curls were all messed up and his trembling hands were covered in sweat.

"I don't wanna go to the service tomorrow."

Ashton murmured, before letting the tears stream down his face. 

"Oh, love. Come here, boy. It's alright."

Ever heard of the expression sweating like a whore in church?

How about a homosexual?

Weird and short chapter, I know. Do you like Gabriel? What do you think worship will be like?

I'm not trying to diss Christianity here, but something was definitely wrong with it during the middle ages.