Undorn: The Beginning

Part Twenty-Four

Beo, Region of Lufe

Location: The Hospital

The mess hall was the most brightly lit space in the compound, and it was swarming with people and sounds and delicious smells that made Beo feel like, for the first time he left his home in Lufe, he was safe.

While Beo and Taide had finished their dinner quite a while ago, Orwell had gone for his second tray of food and was now biting through a rather tough baguette and simultaneously trying to explain the rules to an ancient game called Shinty that he insisted used to be played in the high lands of Orrosta. "And I swear--" he took a break to swallow. "That I once saw a poor lad get his shin absolutely whacked clean off--woah." He had stopped speaking not because the story of some poor lad's leg was much too intense to share, but because something behind Beo's back had grabbed the whole of his attention.

Taide, who was sitting next to Orwell and was hardly ever amused or captivated by anything, let his jaw drop. Beo's brows furrowed. He made a move to turn around. "What are you two looking... Oh my..."

It was Bones and Maxin returning from the kitchen, trays of food in hand. By the time Beo had turned around, the two were filing into the long wooden table, Maxin situating himself next to Orwell and Bones slamming his tray down at Beo's side. Maxin was beaming, Beo surmised that he was always beaming, but it wasn't Maxin who had stirred a reaction in the three men. It was Bones.

He looked positively stunning.

"Mate! What the hell is this!" Orwell slammed the baguette down in protest.

Bones, drinking a glass of water, took his time to respond. "You talking to me, mate?" Beo watched every inch of his skin move as he swallowed. He could actually see Bones' jawline. He could see the scar that looked like electricity running from his ear to halfway down his neck. He didn't even know that scar existed. 

"Yes! And I'm sayin' what the fuck is this! They make you look like a bloody celebrity and I get all my tips shaved off like a god damn sheep being sheared for summa!"

Bones and Taide snorted out laughter. "I'm serious, mates! He looks like the kinda guy I'd take home to me mum for Christmas Dinner! And I look like a bloody armadillo!" 

Taide was laughing, but he nodded. "Seriously. You look good."

"You guys are all dicks. Did I not look good before?"

Beo, who had been staring at Bones' profile for quite some time now, absolutely and utterly entranced, finally spoke up. "Of course you did," he paused, and he watched his own fingers reach up with a mind of their own to trace Bones' jawline. "But now you can see your jaw... And your cheekbones, too..."

Slowly, Bones turned gracefully enough so Beo's fingers wouldn't fall. He caught the boy's eyes in his. Beo could feel the deep breathes Bones was taking as they hit his fingers. Everything in Beo wanted to curl his fingers around the man's chin and--

"Uh, do you two want a moment alone?"

Beo's fingers recoiled quickly into his lap. The two of them ignored Orwell's comment, but Beo could feel his face getting hotter and hotter. What the hell was his problem! He was in public! And he and Bones had only ever... kissed once. It was stupid to touch him like that. Beo was so stupid. 

Unlike Beo, Bones was naturally unembarrassed and completely capable of forming sentences and diverting attention away from the two of them. "Maxin, didn't your friend Orgon want to meet you for dinner?"  As he was speaking, Bones' thigh pressed lightly against Beo's underneath the table. Beo held his breath, but Bones didn't move. In fact, he pressed closer.