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

6

Ashton woke up that morning with his arm wrapped around his younger brother. He was late for worship, but he didn't mind. Michael was still sound asleep and he refused to leave until he was awake.

He hated seeing him like this, it was something that didn't happen very often. Ashton was usually the one with his feelings all over the place. But the thought of seeing a beating heart messed up Michael pretty badly.

Surprisingly, he woke a few minutes later. He usually slept until halfway the morning. So did Ashton, but his body was still horribly confused because he got up so early the day before.

"Good morning."

Michael whispered, turning around in his grip.

They weren't afraid of being accused of being homosexual because they were brothers. The servants knew they'd been staying over in each other's rooms all their lives. Sometimes they even shared a room for a few days, mostly if one of them was going through a bad time. 

However, Ashton couldn't sleep in Gabriel's room, that would've been 'gay'. 

"Good morning."

"Wait, why are you still here? There's a service."

Michael muttered, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to wake up. Confusion was written all over his face and because his hair was all messed up, Ashton had to bite his lip to suppress a laugh. 

"I know, but I'm not going. You're more important."

He said, while trying to fix Michael's hair. The latter just let his head fall back on the pillow again, burying his face in Ashton's chest. 

"No I'm not. You already befriended me. You're my brother, Ashton. You already have my trust, I'm not going to abandon you because I woke up alone."

"I know that, but I still don't want you to wake up alone."

Ashton said with a shrug. It had been quite a while since they slept at one another's room. 

"Fine. You should go now though, maybe worship is ending now and you'll find Luke at the entrance of the chapel."

Michael was right, so he quickly got up and threw on some clothes. He tried to fix his hair, but it seemed to be even worse than Michael's. After all these years of having curls, he still didn't know how to handle them.

He ran down the corridors, greeting some servants on the way. He only stopped once to ask a servant to bring Michael breakfast. 

The chapel was already half empty when he arrived. He stood on his tip toes, trying to spot Luke. He had no luck though, he was no where to be seen.

"Sir Ashton?"

Ashton felt a soft tap on his shoulder, as though the person was hesitating.

"Luke."

He breathed, glad that he had found the blond at last. Luke's hands were torturing each other, constantly scratching and pinching each other. It was a sign of nervousness, Ashton had read in his big psychology book. He probably wasn't sure whether it was okay to touch Ashton and was punishing himself in his mind, a series of imaginary accusations and swears tormenting him. 

"There you are, I was looking for you."

Ashton tried to subtly reassure him and he took Luke's hand, so he'd stop hurting himself. 

"Feel like reading another book?"

Luke nodded softly, letting Ashton lead him away. He had thought they would be going to the buttery again, but they ended up in the bottlery. It was a room where they kept wine and other expensive provisions. It was a rather weird place to read books and Luke felt a little uncomfortable walking in between racks filled with such costly things.