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Luke flopped onto the nearest bed, dropping his pack on the floor as he did so. A tired sigh of relief escaped him as he watched Guy, Ion, and Jade go about picking their own beds and getting settled in for the rest of the day and the coming night.
It was good to be inside again, away at last from the endless hordes of monsters and people who all seemed to want nothing more than to kill the lot of them. Having a nice, soft bed under him certainly didn't hurt, either. It sure as hell beat sleeping out on the cold, hard ground with only his lumpy pack for a pillow. Not that he'd had a good night's rest since being zapped out of the manor. He honestly couldn't remember ever being so tired before. Master Van definitely hadn't ever trained him so hard that he felt like he might pass out on his feet, and training with Guy hadn't ever been that rough, either. But it didn't matter now, because he had a wonderful bed to sleep in again and a fluffy pillow to cushion his head.
And he didn't have to worry about some stupid monster trying to eat him in his sleep.
As the others moved about the room and talked about gathering supplies and replacing equipment, it became harder and harder to keep his eyes open. The voices in the room blurred together into a murmur and -
"Luke?"
He nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound. As he felt Guy's weight sink into the bed where the blonde swordsman sat down near him, Luke's stomach turned and his whole body trembled. Guy smoothed several long, wet bangs away from his face, and the shaky teen realized that his clothes were sticking to him.
"You don't look so good," his friend said softly as he brushed more of Luke's bangs out of his face, his own wearing a worried expression. "It almost feels like you've got a fever. Do you feel sick?"
The redhead weakly nodded. He had no idea what was making him feel so awful, but he really hoped it went away soon. Being sick and stuck in bed sucked at the best of times, but being trapped here while the God-Generals and Oracle Knights prowled around the city was downright nightmarish. There was no way he could hold a sword right now, let alone defend himself if they were found.
Guy frowned as he pulled his pack off of the floor into his lap and rummaged through it. After a bit of digging, the blonde produced a small, familiar bottle of pills.
Oh no.
Luke forced himself to sit up even as his body punished him with nausea and dizziness. After a few seconds he became so lightheaded that he forgot what was going on. No longer sure of what he was supposed to be doing, the boy tried to get out of bed. Further confusion hit him as someone suddenly shouted his name.
With a loud thwack, the young noble face-planted into the small nightstand near his bed. Pain surged through his head, momentarily clearing the fog that had clouded his thoughts. A small part of his mind noted that when Guy or anyone else yelled for him, it might be a good idea to stop what he was doing and pay attention. The rest of his mind was too busy hating nightstands and cursing whoever had invented them to care about anything but the pain.
Guy must have dove right over the bed as Luke was falling because his arms closed around the smaller young man, keeping him from hitting the ground as he fell back from the nightstand. As the pair of them jolted down, the world went dark around the red-haired noble for a moment.
"Luke!"
He shook, tears beginning to run down his cheeks as Guy carefully sat up while still holding onto him. The branch he'd been clinging to was still in his hands, his knuckles white from gripping it so hard. The same branch that Guy had warned him about not half a minute before. Like the idiot he was, though, he'd gone and climbed out on it anyway, sticking his tongue out at the doubter below. And just like every other time he'd ever ignored one of Guy's warnings against doing something stupid, he'd found out the hard way why he wasn't supposed to do so.
It had happened so fast. A moment of triumph, then mind-numbing terror as he plummeted towards the ground. There hadn't been time for him to do anything but grab at the branch that was no longer under him and scream.
"Are you alright?" Guy asked shakily. He was clinging to the smaller boy almost as tightly as the little redhead was clinging to the broken branch in his hands. Luke could only nod as a small sob escaped him.
As the older boy gently pried the stick out of his smaller hands with but one of his own larger ones, his other arm remained wrapped around Luke's middle, its presence a comfort and a promise of safety. No sooner had the piece of wood been freed and tossed aside, than the little red haired boy twisted around in Guy's lap and buried his tear-streaked face in the orange fabric of the older boy's vest.
Usually Guy would gently point out that boys weren't supposed to cry so much, but this time the blonde teen merely stroked Luke's hair as he held him. He wasn't sure how long they sat there, only that it was long enough for his tears to run out and his eyelids to grow heavy.
Luke's last, sleepy thoughts were that he should fall out of trees more often and that it was too bad that there wasn't a less scary way to get Guy to hug him.
. . . . . . . . . .
Luke blinked and found himself seated across Guy's lap, the older swordsman's shoulder providing a rest for his head. His face burned when he realized that Guy had also wrapped his arms around him, no doubt in the hopes that it would keep the wobbly teen from falling over and hurting himself yet again. Not that that made it any less embarrassing or stopped him from trying to get up anyway.
"Luke." It was clear from Guy's tone of voice that his servant wasn't going to put up with any more of his foolish rebelliousness today. As easygoing as the blonde so often was, even his patience had a limit, and Luke had no intention of driving Guy to literally try to knock some sense into him.
"Fine," he mumbled into the collar of Guy's vest, his face still hot.
"You're not gonna complain or argue with me?" the blonde asked, sounding genuinely surprised. "You must be even sicker than I thought."
"Oh, shut up," he groused, digging his elbow into Guy's midsection. The action only served to make the older swordsman laugh, though, and he lightly squeezed Luke, causing the redhead's face to feel as though it had been lit on fire.
"Awww, you're blushing!" the blonde cooed.
"N-no, I'm not!" Luke stammered out, flustered by the other young man's sudden omniscience. "And how would you know, anyway?! You aren't even looking at me!"
He could hear the grin on Guy's face as he said, "You are blushing, and I know it because I know you. You can't spend most of your life around someone else and not pick up on a thing or two, you know." Luke considered that for a moment before Guy quietly added in a slightly more serious tone, "Even with how different you are now."
Uncertainty fell over the red-haired boy at that, a multitude of memories of his cousin's incessant nagging and his father's constant rejections from the past seven years rising to the forefront of his mind. Even Mother had expressed some sadness from time to time about his lack of memories, though she had always been quick to reassure him that she loved him all the same. Guy alone, in all the time since Luke had been returned to the Fabre Manor following his kidnapping, had never once raised the issue of Luke not remembering who he was in a negative way. He'd even been happy about getting a clean start.
Or so Guy had claimed. But... maybe he, too, had always wanted the old Luke back. His blonde friend was much too nice a person to ever say such a thing out loud, of course, but...
Luke's breath hitched, and he struggled to swallow the lump that rose in his throat. The idea of not being wanted even by his best friend was too much. He bit down on his lip as hot tears welled up in his eyes, blurring his vision and making him wish he was anywhere else. As hard as he tried to keep from crying, the tears still fell, and his shoulders shook as he struggled to at least be quiet about it.
"Luke?" Guy's voice was filled with concern. "You're shaking again. What's - are you crying?"
Hating that he couldn't stop the sob that preceded it, he choked out, "N-no."
Guy sat up straighter and shifted his grip on Luke so that he was able to actually look at the redhead's face. Catching a glimpse of the all-too-familiar, bright blue eyes, Luke turned and pressed his face into the blonde's vest, wishing he could disappear. Or that he'd never been returned to the manor at all.
"Hey," his friend's voice came out much softer this time. He ran his fingers through Luke's hair, brushing it back behind an ear as he spoke, "If it's what I said about you being different, I didn't mean that that's a bad thing. To be completely honest, Luke, I... I prefer this you to the old you."
Half wondering if he wasn't just hearing things, Luke hesitantly turned his head so that he could see the open look in Guy's eyes. The blonde gave him a sad smile then gently brushed the tears off of the teen's cheeks.
"I should've told you that a long time ago. With the way Princess Natalia and His Grace have gone after you for not remembering anything before the kidnapping, you really could've used someone actually telling you that it's okay to just be you, couldn't you?" Guy quietly continued, the sadness creeping back into his eyes. "I'm sorry that I didn't say so sooner."
"I-it's okay, Guy," the redhead quickly stammered out. It was strange and awful seeing his friend so sad, his optimistic attitude and bright smile gone. "I mean, you've never gotten mad and yelled me to hurry up and remember stuff or that I..." He trailed off for a moment, Father's cold words echoing in his mind. "That I was a dis... disappointment to you."
Guy's expression had become pained, and Luke scrambled for something else to say, blurting out the first thing that came to mind, "I'm really happy that you like me."
The blonde swordsman's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his bangs for a moment, and then he burst out laughing. He hauled Luke up and tightly hugged him.
The redhead's face heated up again as he sat straddling Guy's lap and hugged him back. As embarrassing a position to be sitting in as it was, it was still nice to feel so close to someone else again. It had been a terribly long time since Guy - or anyone else for that matter - had hugged or held him. As soon as he'd turned twelve, Father had insisted that he was too old to be coddled like an infant any longer. Not a day went by that Luke didn't find himself desperately missing that part of his childhood and disliking his father a little more for being so cold-hearted towards him.
At least I didn't have to fall out of a tree this time.
The red-haired teen wondered for a moment where that thought had come from before dismissing it as some random bit of whatever left over from banging his head against the nightstand. He closed his eyes and focused on memorizing the feel of Guy's arms around him. There was really no saying when he'd get to have a moment like this with his friend ever again, after all.
And then, all too soon, Guy pulled away from him, grinning again. Luke returned the smile, doing his best to ignore the empty ache in his chest, telling himself that it probably wouldn't be the last time he ever got a hug.
The blonde's expression suddenly turned serious and the redhead nervously wondered if maybe he wasn't smiling enough before Guy pressed the back of his hand against Luke's forehead. For a moment he wondered what on Auldrant the older swordsman was doing, then he realized they were still sitting on the floor.
Oh, right. He'd woken up feeling horrible and then the nightstand had attacked him.
"I feel a lot better now," he said hopefully, as Guy removed his hand.
The blonde nodded, then reached up onto the bed and pulled the bottle of pills over to them. He shook out two of the little, round, bitter-tasting things and then looked expectantly at Luke. With a sigh the younger of the two opened his mouth and allowed Guy to stick the medicine on his tongue before he swallowed. The grimace that flashed across his face got him a laugh and then a sympathetic smile.
"Sorry, Luke," the blonde apologized half-heartedly. He dug through the pack near them and produced Luke's canteen, its owner then quickly emptying it. All the water in the world wouldn't wash that icky aftertaste away, but at least drinking something helped a little.
"Okay, then," Guy said with a smile. "Let's get you into bed."
"Already?" Luke glanced over at the nearest window. It wasn't yet night.
"I know you feel better, Luke, but I don't want to take any chances, alright?" the blonde said as he carefully helped his shorter friend to his feet. "Just because you feel alright now doesn't mean you should stay up half the night. If you do that, you'll be even worse off than you were when I woke you up earlier." Shuddering at the memory, Luke offered no further protest, allowing Guy to help him quickly change into a clean set of clothes and then tuck him into bed.
As Guy stood to leave the room, Luke grabbed his hand, a sense of panic gripping him for a moment. "Wait."
"What is it?" the swordsman asked, his voice filled with concern.
The red-haired boy hesitated a moment before daring to voice his request. "Stay with me?" It had been years since he'd last asked, but the passage of time had only made it all the more embarrassing.
To Luke's surprise, rather than teasing him, Guy smiled at him instead and sat down on the bed, the feel of his weight pressing down into the bed oddly comforting.
"Of course, Dear Master Luke."
The redhead frowned at him and shook his head. "No, I mean..." He trailed off, unsure of how to word it and feeling terribly self-concious about even thinking of admitting to feeling something so... mushy.
Guy watched him while he waited for Luke to continue, his curiosity obvious.
A blush crept onto his face as he forced himself to try to explain, "I... I don't want you to stay if you feel like you have to. I... I just..." He weakly trailed off as Guy continued to just look at him. He swallowed, feeling slightly stupid and wishing he'd just kept his mouth shut to begin with. "N-nevermind."
He rolled over, pulling the covers over his head. Disappearing might've been impossible, but he could still hide. He didn't care if it was childish of him.
At least Guy wouldn't see him cry this time.
The other weight on the bed suddenly shifted, and then Guy was laying next to him, one arm wrapped around the redhead's middle.
"I'll stay with you, Luke," he said in little more than a whisper.
"You... " the redhead paused. He pulled the covers away from his head and then rolled back over so he was facing the blonde. "You will?"
Guy smiled. "Of course." He ruffled Luke's hair and then rested his forehead against the younger man's.
"There's nowhere I'd rather be with than my best friend."
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Author's notes:
Hey there. Thanks for reading my fanfic.
I intended this to be a fluff fic, though I'm not sure that that's what it turned out to be. However, I'm fairly happy with how it turned out overall. Please feel free to leave a review letting me know what you thought, which parts you liked best, hated, thought were boring, or got confused by. Knowing which parts affected people and how will help me to write a better story next time.