This came out way faster then I expected it to, though it seems my other stories are suffering a bit of neglect (oops). I've actually already written a bit the next chapter, so that one should be out soon as well.

Just a note beforehand to make sure the story doesn't get confusing…

I've pretty much been leaving out all details on the course of the original story, since- well, you've most likely already read the actual book so it would be kind of boring for me to just repeat things. But just to catch you up with where they are in the plot at this point since I've kept it kind of vague, they have already learned what Keren has planned with the Scotti, and have already planned and are preparing for their siege of the castle.

Will was going to kill Horace. He was absolutely going to kill him.

Despite the warrior's suggestion of using his 'freakish ranger stealth skills' to exit the tent unnoticed, there was no real way to avoid detection exiting a tent with only one entrance while someone was waiting outside for you to come out.

"Morning, lovebirds!" The two of them were greeted cheerfully by the burly Skandian, Gundar the moment they came out of the tent the following morning (though Will had told Horace not to come out directly behind him).

Will paled, shooting a quick glare at his friend, who for his part did not look nearly as ashamed as the ranger thought he should have.

"What is it, Gundar?" The warrior asked casually. As casually as if they had not just been caught sleeping together. Well, not caught during the act, but good enough! Why else would they have been sleeping in the same small tent when there was another perfectly good one right beside it?

How could he not care?

The Skandian gave a deep rumbling laugh, seeming amused at Will's obvious humiliation, "I was just coming to tell you the progress my men have made on those ladders, but if you two need some more alone time…" He trailed off suggestively, elbowing the young ranger in a good natured manner -and almost hard enough to knock him off his feet in his stunned state.

"N-no!" Will shouted a bit too forcefully. He could tell from the heat rising in his face that he was no doubt blushing profusely, "I wasn't- We weren't- It's not what you think!"

'That sounded convincing' he thought bitterly.

The Skandian laughed again, even harder this time. Will was fairly certain anyone within a ten mile radius would have heard it. "Oh no?" The large man asked, still chuckling, "so all that noise last night was just some close quarters sparring eh?"

He nudged the ranger again, and Will could feel his blush deepen. Oh god, he had heard them? Had everyone?

Actually, the Skandian explained with far too much amusement, it had not been him directly that had heard it. Rather one of his men who had been looking for a place to… relieve himself had just so happened to pass by their tent at just about the same time Will had been moaning and crying out his friend's name in ecstasy for all the hear (he went into great detail on that part, much to Will's dismay).

Will wasn't sure if he should be more perturbed by the fact that their secret was out, or that some of the Skandians were apparently relieving themselves beside their tents.

To the ranger's horror, he went on to add that the man had taken no time in telling everyone who would listen, and that the Skandians had all been drinking and taking bets nearly all night on how long it had been going on and how long they thought it would last.

"So what is this, the fifth time? Sixth? Come on, I can't stand to lose any more money to my own men like this!"

"Sorry, my good man, only the second", Horace replied before Will could stop him, and the Skandian cursed loudly, grumbling about his hefty losses.

Will was too absorbed in his own humiliation to really pay much attention to the rest of the conversation, but the moment Gundar turned away, laughing to himself as he walked off, the ranger turned on his friend.

"I told you I should have gone back to my tent last night!" Will seethed, glaring daggers at the warrior.

"That", Horace's pleasant expression immediately shifted into a matching glare at his friend's accusations, "wasn't what got us caught now was it? From what I heard it was someone not being able to keep his big mouth shut."

"Only because someone else's mouth was somewhere it shouldn't have been."

"I seem to recall you quite enjoying that. 'Oh, Horace! More! More!" The warrior cried dramatically in a poor imitation of Will's voice.

"I didn't say that!" Will shouted indignantly, the blush that had just started to go down coming back with a vengeance, as he quickly glanced around to see if anyone had heard. Though he wasn't really sure why he bothered. Apparently it was all around the camp by now. Oh god…

"And besides", Horace went on, seeming to not know when to stop, "you started it. Just. Like. Last time."

The warrior smiled smugly, crossing his arms like he'd won. Will didn't say anything and the warrior seemed to take this as a confirmation of his victory, swiftly moving on to another subject, pleasant mood returned.

"Well, anyway, we should probably be helping with preparations for-" The warrior started, but Will interrupted him.

"We are not doing this again." The ranger's head was lowered, not looking at his friend, and his voice was cold and tight holding no hint of its usual friendliness or good cheer.

Horace hadn't been expecting that…

"I'm sorry?" the warrior asked, a little taken aback by the sudden mood change (well, Will hadn't been exactly happy before, but…). "What are you talking about…?"

"This thing! Whatever it is, it's over!" Will shouted, finally looking up to meet his friend's confused gaze. The ranger's eyes were sharp, venomous, so unlike Will that it stunned the warrior into silence. But… wait… was that gleam in his eyes… tears? Horace didn't get a chance to confirm his suspicions, as the ranger swiftly turned away from him, storming off towards the clearing.

"I'm going to see if Malcolm needs any help with his diversions. Don't try to come with me." Will said back to his stunned friend, not even bothering to turn around and say it to his face.

Horace was left dumbstruck. What had just happened…? Sure, he'd been poking fun at his friend, and perhaps had gone a little far, but… this was crazy! Had… had Will just broken up with him?

The warrior just stood there for a moment, mouth slightly open as if trying to catch flies in it, looking at where Will had been just a moment before, though he had already long since disappeared. It was too late to call him back now. The warrior briefly considered going against what the ranger had said, and following him, but… this wasn't exactly a discussion he wanted to continue in front of other people.

He thought back to the look he'd seen on his friend's face. The anger had been what had initially startled him, had taken his full attention so that he hadn't noticed the more important detail until it was too late a second before the ranger had turned around. But thinking back on it, Horace was sure. Will had been about to cry.

That was almost more confusing then the anger. The thought of his friend- and now kind of lover- being in such turmoil was… upsetting, and the warrior wasn't sure exactly how he should feel. Or more helpfully for that matter, what he should be doing to fix it. This was not going to be easy…

"What did I do wrong…?" The warrior muttered to himself, scrubbing a hand across his eyes.

They've been found out! I considered having someone walk in on them, but… I ended up chickening out. Ha ha… So I hope being overheard was an okay compromise.

I hope it doesn't come off as odd that Horace seemed so fine with everything. As I mentioned in the last chapter's note, I had originally wanted to make them both really weirded out by their feelings and actions and such and avoid each other, but ended up making it mostly just Will. I think Horace was feeling a bit hurt and offended by Will's semi-rejection (followed by complete rejection), and was acting possibly overly fine with it as a bit of a "so there!" sort of thing. I hope I made it come across that way, and still seem realistic. As for the Skandians, they seem more or less like the "whatever floats your boat" types to me, so I didn't think they'd really be overly bothered by the whole male on male thing, and really just be more amused then anything.

It's the first chapter that doesn't have any sex in it! Ugh, plot. Sex is way better. Lol. But, I suppose both are necessary. More sex in the future (really, I promise!)! They just have to get through a little bit of a storm first to get to the rainbow. ^_^

Thank you everyone for your reviews and support, and I hope you'll continue reading until the end!

~angel-san