Chapter Eleven – Guilt
David rolled over and waved his arm blindly across the extensive bed to find the warmth of his lover's body. Finding nothing, he opened bleary eyes and saw the room was empty apart from Kryten serving up a breakfast of exotic spiced fruits and yoghurts. He groaned at the eunuch's cheerful chirrup of, "Good morning, sir! I hope you slept well."
"Eventually," he replied with a conspiratorial chuckle. "Where's Arn?"
Kryten looked curious at the nickname but was professional enough not to ask. "I'm not quite sure. He summoned another guard to take over and left early this morning."
David had a sinking feeling. Arnold was strait-laced and easily mortified. He probably woke up in horror at his bedfellow under the unforgiving light of morning and ran away for some kind of ritual punishment. Or maybe he'd really hurt him and he had to go see a physician. Either way the feeling sunk all the way down to Davy Jones's locker.
"Don't worry, sir, I'm sure he'll be back in time for your fitting."
"Me what?"
"Your new clothes. Concubines and lovers must wear attire that is alluring to the King."
David thought bleakly about the exuberant purple outfit and chrome robes King Cat had worn when they first met. He was going to be mutton masala dressed as lamb vindaloo.
"Arnelle! Wassup, monkey-boy?"
Arnold froze in mid-step and swivelled on the spot to find the grinning face of his brother. He mumbled a weak greeting.
"Great, great!" the King chortled. "Buddy, I need your opinion. How're my threads?"
Arnold took in the apricot woollen toga and green tunic. "Awful."
"Then I must be looking fabulous because you never did have taste." King Cat chortled again and Arnold doubled up as his back was patted forcefully. "How's your new assignment going?"
"Very well," Arnold replied. Not looking Cat in the eye.
"It gives you something to do, I guess. The Council were getting all bitchy about you hanging around doing nothing."
"But you know I don't want to be a guard. I wanted to be in the military."
"You can't unless you pass the exams. You've failed thirteen times! I can only pull so many strings, buddy."
"Twelve times. The last one didn't count as a fail. I passed out an hour before it even began. That's a disqualification."
Cat could only laugh at Arnold's obstinacy and patted him on the back again, "It doesn't matter. Seems like you're doing a good job of taking care of that guy."
"Mm…" Arnold shook off Cat's hand and dismissed himself.
"Where have YOU been?" David roared at Arnold before he even had a chance to step into the room. "You're supposed to be guarding me."
"I left someone outside. And Krytel was here."
"Kryts couldn't beat up a blind leper with an inner-ear infection." Kryten's displeasure at this dismissive comment went unnoticed as David became engrossed in the act of poking Arnold in the chest and telling him off.
Taken aback, it took Arnold a little while before he could come up with a decent answer. "I had other duties."
"That's not an excuse." David scratched at his arm and shyly stared at the ground. "When I woke up alone I thought…" He lowered his voice. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"No," he whispered back with an even shyer look. "You were quite gentle."
David's face shone with a complimentary pride. "You've no idea how much I had to hold back. You felt amazing."
Kryten watched on from his cleaning duties at their quiet awkward blushes with some concern. If they were going to act like that around one another how were they ever going to have intercourse properly?
