Obsidian
This chapter is grouped together with the
previous one; sable
Disclaimer:
Me no own. Me want to. But me don't.
II. tawny
Jay, to say the least, felt rather ashamed with himself. Contrary to any hopes their group may have had, the thunderstorm had continued into the next day, become so fierce it screamed and lashed at the sides of the inn, rain beating against the hard brick. Will woke up, took one glance out the window, sighed and announced, "I'm going to go get something to eat. We can't leave, nor can we search for that monster today," to the males in the room. Before Senel or Will had a chance to wake up that morning, Jay slipped out of Moses' rather tight hold on his body, and climbed into the bandits' bed, as not to give any impressions he wouldn't have wanted to. Now, that wasn't what he felt ashamed about.
What he felt ashamed about was that he was stuck in an empty room with Moses, who was wide-awake, occasionally flinching at the thunder outside, and he could work up no words to speak to him, as if he was embarrassed! Of all the things. They were all alone, as Senel had gone to rouse the girls and tell them of the plan for the day. And the bandit was looking at Jay from his bed with a half-bemused, half-grateful look on his face as the boy started up a fire in the hearth. "Hey, Jay," Moses called over to him, as if intending to say something else. Jay could guess what he was going to say, and quickly cut him off.
"Didn't I tell you not to mention it? Stupid bandit," Jay said with a little snort of disdain as he lit up the wheat under the logs of wood. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the man's red hair beginning to bristle like an agitated cats' fur. He had to push down an amused smile at the mental image that brought.
"Hey, I was just tryin' to thank ya! And I ain't stupid," Moses said, thumping his fist against the mattress under him so hard it rattled. He calmed himself enough to speak a question, "But…I wanna know, why'd you let me? I mean…"
"I just didn't want you bothering me, and I didn't want to wake up anyone by trying to get you to go back to your own bed," Jay whipped up the excuse and was quite pleased with himself for how convincing it sounded. Moses blinked, grinned, and placed his palms on his knees, gazing at the dark-haired boy with a half-tilted head, and he turned away from the fire, annoyed. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothin', Jay. Nothin' at all," the bandit declared, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing up, waltzing over his bed—which really hadn't been used at all—to pick up his gear. "But thanks anyway, little brother!"
"I told you not to mention…it…" Before he could finish his enraged sentence, Moses was gone, walking from the room with a grin on his face. Jay scowled as the door shut behind him and sat down heavily in front of the fire. "…hm. Why did I…?" He pulled his knees up to his chest, hooked his arms around his legs, and gazed into the crackling, burning flames.
In all actuality, Jay wasn't exactly sure of the reason he had let the bandit sleep in his bed. Pity? No, not particularly. Maybe it was because he was half-asleep and wasn't thinking properly. Oh, well, no point in dwelling on it now. It wasn't like it was going to happen again, or anything. Standing up, he pulled on his clothes and exited the room, bumping into Senel.
"Hey, do you know why Moses is in such a good mood today?" he asked Jay with a puzzled look on his face. "I mean, normally he's pretty cheerful—"
"Stupid," corrected Jay, which Senel ignored.
"But today he's especially in a good mood. Do you happen to know why?"
"No. Why are you asking me? You know how that stupid bandit and I argue all the time."
"Yes, but you know more about him than anyone else," Senel replied without missing a beat. "You two are the best of friends, I can tell." Jay faltered, and for some reason lost to him, blushed hard, the color burning in his pale cheeks.
"…Nonsense," Jay replied quickly, and bypassed the faintly smiling white-haired boy, tromping down the stairs to the bottom floor of the inn. Norma greeted him enthusiastically from where they were eating breakfast, waving her arm around in the air.
"Hiya, JJ! We were just about to come and get you, but I guess you smelled the food," she said, grinning and digging into a plate of eggs set in front of her. Moses grinned as well, and beckoned for the boy to sit next to him, patting the seat there invitingly. Rolling his violet eyes, Jay walked over and sat down.
"Now, be sure to eat all your food," lectured Moses immediately, piling food on a plate for him. "Or else ya won't grow big and strong."
"Stop coddling me," Jay grunted, "I'm not a child, you know."
"Of course you ain't, Jay!" Getting the distinct feeling he was being teased, he narrowed his eyes at Moses before picking up a fork to eat the food. Grune was smiling from where she was sitting next to Norma, and Jay glanced around, noting that Shirley, Chloe, Senel and Will were absent.
"Where's everyone else?" he asked after chewing up his food and taking a drink from the glass of water handed to him from Moses.
"C and Shirl got up extra early," Norma said, emphasizing 'extra' with a dramatic waving of one of her arms, "so Teach let them go with him to look around the town. He's gone all obsessive on us—he wants to go find that monster real bad, but he can't because it's still storming."
Moses shivered, and grinned nervously. "Still stormin'? When's it gonna let up?" he asked, edgily, and Jay looked over at him with narrowed eyes before polishing off the rest of the food on his plate. Moses beamed at him. "Good job, Jay!"
Jay merely gave him his most withering look, gulping down the rest of his water before standing up. "I think I'm going to go look around town as well," he announced.
"Well, JJ, we can come with you!" Norma exclaimed. "I'm all done, anyway!" She stood up, and Grune stood as well, smiling serenely.
"Oh, my, it sounds like fun."
"Yeehaw! We're explorin' this place!" Moses exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air.
"You sure you'll be alright, Moses? After all, it's still storming outside," Jay said with a barely noticeably smile on his face. Moses seemed to pale slightly, before keeping up his 'manly' front in front of Norma and Grune.
"I ain't afraid of no thunder!" said the bandit confidently.
'And that's exactly why you were clinging to me all last night during the thunderstorm?' Jay thought, but didn't voice it aloud. He sighed. "Come on, let's go. And Norma, grab some umbrellas from the stand upstairs."
"Right away, JJ! C'mon, G-Girl!" Norma hop-skipped up the stairs, Grune following at a slower pace, smiling all the while.
Once they were out of hearing range, Moses turned to Jay with a grin. "Thanks for not sayin' anything about, well…you know," he said.
"Saying anything about what?" Jay asked calmly, and the bandit appeared surprised for a minute before his face dissolved into a soft smile that made the information specialist look down at the floor quickly. "Stop looking at me like that."
"Sorry," Moses said, grinning stupidly as if intensely pleased about something, and Jay wrinkled his nose at him.
"Alright, JJ! Here are the umbrellas—let's get going!"
Their trip had been almost…fun, and there hadn't been any thunder or lightning outside. He and Moses hadn't really bickered along the way, surprising Norma, but she grinned a few times, as if planning something. They had spent a good few hours wandering around the cozy little town, looking at street vendors' wares, and peeking in shop windows at weapons. They had ran into Senel, Will, Shirley and Chloe near the village plaza, all of whom were surprised to see Moses and Jay walking side-by-side and not arguing. Just for the sake of it, the two of them had engaged in a friendly squabble on the way back to the inn. It was beginning to get more stormy overhead as they entered the inn, shaking water from their clothes.
"Ahh!" Moses groaned, stretching his arms over his head as they walked upstairs to their rooms. "That was great—we gotta do that more often!" He fixed Jay with a mischievous look. "You should come live with me and my boys for a while, Jay. See how you'd like livin' like your big brother!" He thumped his chest proudly.
"I'd rather not—I like the way I live just fine, thanks, and I'd prefer not to sleep in a place that smells like a barn," Jay retorted, easily falling back into the old tradition of arguing.
"It don't smell like no barn! Me and the boys keep it real clean and fresh!" Moses protested, spreading his arms apart. "And I bet livin' in a place that smells like scallops ain't that great all the time!" Jay took a moment to think on this—it really did smell like scallops in Quppo's house, but he'd rather eat a wagonload of scallops before admitting that to Moses.
"Hmpth, we'll see if it smells like a barn or not in your camp."
"So it's decided! You're gonna come stay for a while!" Moses exclaimed, and the small boy spluttered.
"What, I didn't—"
"Ya just did," Moses cut him off with a grin. Norma laughed from behind them, and even the rest of the group gave small chuckles of appreciation.
"Red's got you there, JJ! Might as well just give up and give him his way!"
"Stupid bandit," Jay muttered under his breath, but it was half-hearted. He was a little curious to see what it would be like sleeping in one of the bandit's tents for a while.
That night, Jay lay in his own bed, looking up at the ceiling as thunder boomed from outside the window and rain assaulted the roof of the building. His blankets were pulled snugly up to his chin, and once again, he found it hard to sleep. Lightning lit up the room, and in that bright light he saw Moses across the room, sitting up in his own bed and looking at him. The dark-haired boy sighed and sat up, calmly swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing up. He was beginning to realize why he let Moses into his bed—he too sought the comfort and security that came with sleeping with someone, although he wouldn't admit it. Now he was swallowing his pride as he walked over to the red-haired man's bed, standing uncomfortably at the edge when he arrived and looking into wide, surprised eyes.
"Move over," Jay muttered, looking away and clutching his arm with one hand. Moses grinned and did so, allowing the other to climb under the covers of his bed and stretch out there, folding his hands on his chest. Moses settled back on the pillow as well, as if reassured, and shut his eyes. A particularly loud boom of thunder made him jump and attach himself to the smaller boy, who merely shut his eyes and didn't bother to tell the bandit to let go. "…I hope you aren't planning to come to my home every time there's a thunderstorm now."
"I might," Moses said from where his head was half-way buried into Jay's neck. He rolled his violet eyes, before letting them close as exhaustion from the day's excitement swept through him. He barely heard the muttered thanks against his neck as he lost himself to the dark embrace of sleep.
He wasn't so asleep that he didn't notice, next time the thunder roared, Moses only tightened his grip a little on him.
Fin.
