Summary: After obtaining the second of the lord souls, Tempest and Ornstein decide to take a break.
(Author's note: I just wanted to write some fluff and was thinking it would be a short chapter and now I have 6k and also some tiny angst sprinkled into it. Wtf?)
Once Ornstein felt that he was on secure ground he opened his eyes and swallowed back the nausea he felt. Once his sight stabilized, he noticed where they were.
"Anor Londo?", he asked. He was surprised, he had suspected that Tempest would bring them back to Fire Link Shrine to plan how to tackle the next lord soul.
"Actually...", Tempest grinned at him. "I wanted to take a bath. We were in down in these caves quite some time. And I also wanted for you to be able to take a break, because you got hurt." Tempest gestured to Ornstein's leg.
"Taking a bath sounds like a good idea, little Storm.", Ornstein smiled. "Let's go and wash all this dirt and sweat off."
"Wait, what?", Tempest struggled to keep up with the large strides of the dragon slayer. "Are you saying we can take a bath together?"
"...It is not like we haven't seen each other naked already...", Ornstein said. "Besides, the water in the Anor Londo bathroom comes from a hot spring that helps with healing injuries. I will be back into form a lot quicker when I take a bath in it."
"Awesome.", Tempest said. "I didn't knew the water in Anor Londo had such powers..."
"It isn't from a natural spring... the water was blessed with healing magic in the past. It was a very strong blessing, but over the years it weakened. Nowadays, it mostly helps with pain and injuries will heal quicker. And of course, even back then, the water wasn't able to heal grave injuries. It mostly was there to help with healing all the minor scraps and cuts.", Ornstein explained.
Soon the both of them had arrived at the bathroom. "I have the feeling I should have worked on my armour first...", Tempest said, tugging at the black leather. "It's all messed up, I won't have anything to dress in after the bath." Ornstein silently rummaged around in a cupboard while Tempest spoked and produced a cozy looking robe which he handed to Tempest.
"I completely forget that we had some of them here...", he said. "Luckily, we have them in human sizes." He then grabbed one of the bigger robes for himself and added a few towels. "You can wear this after the bath, so you won't have to be naked while you repair your armour."
Tempest nodded, looking at the robe. It looked very fuzzy and comfortable. He already looked forward to wearing this.
While Ornstein had sounded like he was fine with Tempest seeing him naked and vice versa, both of them still seemed to want to be polite and turned around while the other one got undressed. Tempest could hear how Ornstein's armour clanked to the ground as he got out of his own leather garb and put the gargoyle's helm on top of it. When he was done, he glanced at Ornstein and had to bring a hand to his nose to prevent further nosebleeds. Even from behind the dragon slayer's build was a sight to behold.
Once Tempest had stared at Ornstein's butt for long enough, he noticed that the dragon slayer had removed the bandage around his leg and he could see the wound that had been caused by the arrow, feeling a bit guilty about it.
"...stop staring...", Ornstein said and Tempest lowered his head at once.
"S...sorry.", he said, binding the towel around his waist and leaving for the basin, unwrapping the towel and laying it down at the edge before he submerged himself in the hot water. In an instant, he felt relaxed and used a moment to just soak in the warm feeling of the water engulfing him.
A few moments later he heard the pitter-patter of naked feet on the marble tiles before the large form of the dragon slayer submerged himself into the water with a minor splash. Tempest resisted the urge to turn around to see Ornstein in all his naked glory, exploring his own body instead.
Compared to the dragon slayer, more, compared to almost everyone, he really was small. He had to stay at the edge of the basin or he would need to swim. He wasn't as scrawny anymore, the training with Ornstein and the challenges he overcome had helped with building a few muscles, but he was far away from the build of the dragon slayer, where each and every muscle seemed to shine when he moved. And of course, there was the Dark Sign on his chest, the irrevocably proof that he was undead.
Suddenly, something splashed in front of Tempest and he winced and closed his eyes, not having expected it. Once he opened his eyes again, he saw a wash cloth and some soap swimming in front of him. As he picked it up, he heard Ornstein say: "You wanted to wash up, right?"
"Mhm, thanks." Tempest said and applied some soap to the wash cloth which he then used to rub off some dirt, mostly blood from the healed injuries, which tinged the water in front of him in a deep red. Tempest moved a few meters to the side once all the blood was scrubbed off and submerged his head under water. Once he rose, he dispensed some soap in his hair before submerging once again, to wash it out, rising with a head of freshly washed hair.
Once he was done, he glanced at Ornstein, who wasn't washing up at the moment, but seemingly chilled in the hot water, sitting at a location where the water must be deeper. Tempest noticed that the dragon slayer had put his ponytail up, seemingly not wanting to wash it. Tempest eyes focused on Ornstein's hair.
It had looked pretty similar when he still had been in the Darkmoon Tomb, but kind of a bit more frizzy. Back then Tempest didn't knew that it could be even softer, didn't knew that this actually was the state of Ornstein's hair when it was dirty and untended.
Tempest swam closer to Ornstein and said: "Let me help you with your hair."
Ornstein started up, making Tempest question if the dragon slayer had fallen asleep in the warm water. "What?", he asked, confirming Tempest's suspicion that Ornstein hadn't been fully there.
"Your hair. It needs a wash.", Tempest said. "You said it is a hassle to wash it on your own, right? I get this, it's so long. Let me help you."
"You, little Storm?", Ornstein said with a chuckle. "You are small enough to completely vanish into my hair."
"To be honest, it looks like it would make a comfy blanket.", Tempest grinned. "And I agree, we can't do it here. You would have to come to the edge, so that I can help you with washing your hair."
Tempest thought that Ornstein would decline. After all, Tempest had managed to make Ornstein mad because he couldn't help but had to touch his hair when the dragon slayer had been asleep. Ornstein had been less than thrilled back then...
"Fine.", Ornstein said and stood up, walking slowly closer to the edge. Tempest's eyes followed him hungrily and he quickly had to put a hand against his nose to hide a little nosebleed. Apparently, the dragon slayer didn't care anymore for Tempest to see him naked, but Tempest very much felt hot and sweaty at the sight. What a good thing he was already in the water.
Ornstein sat back down once he was at the edge, leaning on both of his arms which rested on the marble tiles while he waited. "What are you waiting for?", he asked.
"Um, I thought, I didn't knew...", Tempest stammered and then gave up, swimming over to Ornstein, climbing out of the basin. Despite knowing that Ornstein had already seen him naked, he still felt a bit awkward to not be clothed and so picked his towel up to bind it around his waist. When he returned, Ornstein had turned around and loosened his hair which cascaded down his back like an obscure waterfall of blood.
"It's so long.", Tempest gasped, as he carefully took a streak in his hands to take a closer look. Ornstein tensed a bit at his touch, but relaxed once Tempest let the streak go.
"We first have to make your hair wet.", Tempest said. "Well, the part that isn't already in the water." Tempest looked around and found a bucket standing around that was perfect for the task. He filled it with water from the basin, sat down next to Ornstein and dipped his feet into the water.
"Close your eyes.", Tempest said and only waited a few more seconds before dumping the contents of the bucket right over Ornstein. The water dripped from his head and the curls straightened, making the hair looking ever longer.
"You can open your eyes again.", Tempest said but Ornstein shook his head.
"Just add the soap.", he said and Tempest understood. Ornstein didn't want to get soap in the eyes. It was relatable, would Tempest have hair as long as this, he would have preferred for his eyes to be closed too once the wash was over.
"I will apply the soap then.", Tempest said. "I need to get your hair out of the water for this, is this alright?"
Ornstein nodded and Tempest got to work, first pulling the hair out of the water and then applying soap to it, starting from the head until it was all foamy down to the tips. "No wonder you don't like washing you hair, this is taking ages.", Tempest said.
"It was easier when someone would help me with it...", Ornstein mentioned. "Smough normally would help me. And before Smough, it was usually Artorias."
He grew quiet after this, probably thinking about his dead companions. Tempest felt another pang of guilt in his stomach. Artorias wasn't his fault, but Smough... He couldn't have known that the protectors of the lord vessel were a couple, he couldn't have known that Ornstein wanted to die back then. He couldn't have known anything, he had just defended himself. And came back. Again and again... until...
Tempest shook the thoughts aside and filled the bucket with new water. "I will dump another bucket of water over you and then get all the foam out.", he announced and saw Ornstein tense at this announcement.
He saw why soon, because after the water had washed away most of the foam, Tempest worked his way through Ornstein's hair and had to loosen a lot of little knots. It felt like the dragon slayer hadn't brushed his hair in days.
"How can your hair be so stubborn?", Tempest said. "Don't you own a brush?"
Ornstein seemed to deflate a little at this and then murmured something. "What was that? I couldn't hear you.", Tempest said as he was working on a particular bad knot.
"I don't like brushing, alright?!", Ornstein spat out and Tempest stopped working on his hair, speechless, before breaking out into laughter.
"What's so funny?", Ornstein snapped.
"Oh nothing, this is just... cute.", Tempest said once his laughing fit had ended. Also, he didn't get the thought of Ornstein attacking the brush like a cat out of his mind and snorted again.
"Stop this.", Ornstein growled. "It's bad enough that you drag and pull at my hair. It twinges."
"Almost done.", Tempest said and worked on the last knot. In the meantime, the hair had half dried and already started to form back into curls. "Is brushing really that bad for you?", Tempest asked once he was done.
"I tried at first...", Ornstein said. "But the brush always would get stuck at a knot and then I would give up and just put my hair into a ponytail. It worked. So why should I change it?"
"So you aren't wearing the ponytail because of a stylistic choice but just because you didn't want to brush your hair?", Tempest felt another laughing fit coming.
"Hm, the design of my armour was done in mind with my hair, so both kind of.", Ornstein said. "Anyway, I think this bath made me hungry. How about you go and prepare one of the seven meals you owe me?"
"Oh right.", Tempest said, "So what do you want to eat?"
Ornstein had a glint in his eyes and Tempest gulped once he saw it. That wasn't a normal glint. That glint looked downright demonic.
"I want some applesauce with green beans into it.", Ornstein said.
Tempest felt himself go pale. He might not taste anything anymore, but he just knew how horrible this had to taste. "Ew, why would you torture yourself like this?", he said, wrinkling his nose.
"It may be hard for you to believe, but I actually like the taste.", Ornstein flatly said. "Now go and cook instead of discussing with me."
"I really have to cook something that doesn't go together at all...?", Tempest said, thinking about speaking up, but got up and dried off his feet. The rest of him had managed to dry while he had worked on Ornstein's hair.
"I am awaiting an excellent meal.", Ornstein said and the demonic glint never left his eyes.
"This couldn't be excellent even with the best ingredients in the whole wide world.", Tempest said and left, having an uneasy feeling about the request.
In the changing room, Tempest did nothing more but to put on his underwear and put the bathrobe over it. It was as warm and cozy as he had imagined. Happily he went to the storage rooms, frowning when he thought about what he had to get.
Once Tempest had arrived at the storage room, he once again was in awe about all the kind of ingredients that got stored there, sealed with magic, so that it would never rot. He asked himself however how the food got restocked. Even Ornstein didn't knew it. The food would run out sooner or later. The only reason that it hadn't run out probably had been that only like three or so people actually ate from it instead of a whole cathedral.
After Tempest had found some apples and the sack filled with green beans, he brought everything into the kitchen. As he prepared the apples to make some applesauce out of them, starting with peeling them, he lamented that he couldn't use them to make some tasty apple pie. There had been a recipe in the book he had found in Artorias' room and Tempest had his own recipe and he had planned to combine the two.
Wait a minute... When Ornstein had asked Tempest to cook for him he had said that this was hardly a punishment for him... Tempest loved to cook... But now that Ornstein had requested such a strange meal, it stroke him like lightning.
That he asked Tempest to cook this strange meal, was meant as a punishment for him, because Tempest hadn't tried to fight the skeleton beast on his owns but always had hidden behind Ornstein and let him do a majority of the work.
And Tempest had to cook six more meals of this. While the mashed the apples and started to boil some water for the beans, he cringed.
Even though he barely could taste anything anymore, just knowing how badly these two things clashed, felt like torture for him, a passionate cook.
"Who would have thought he could be that sneaky?", Tempest growled.
"Who is sneaky?" Tempest started up and turned around to see Ornstein, dressed in the bathrobe and still damp hair put into the usual ponytail. The bright red hair glistened into the light of the kitchen and Tempest didn't answer at first, being caught in how beautiful it looked.
"I believe I asked you a question.", Ornstein said and came fully into the kitchen, sitting down, watching Tempest.
"Oh, uh, nobody.", Tempest said. "Was just talking to myself..."
As Tempest put his attention on the pots before him, his gaze wandered back to Ornstein, who was sitting there in only bathrobes. Did that mean... was he naked underneath? Just like Tempest was? Tempest tried to stare as unobtrusive as possible, seeing how the muscles stood out beneath the bath robe and how he could see a glimmer of naked skin at his legs.
Tempest could feel another nosebleed come. He didn't even knew why he found this so hot. He had seen the dragon slayer fully naked not even an hour ago. But just the thought, that Ornstein had come into the kitchen without being fully clothed made his whole body heat up and he started to sweat.
Or maybe that was just because he stood in front of the stove and the applesauce he was cooking was nearly burning! Tempest quickly reduced the temperature and concentrated back on the meal.
"That you have to handle fire is the the main reason that I am not good at cooking.", Ornstein said from behind.
"What?", Tempest said, he hadn't expected that Ornstein said anything. As he fully registered what Ornstein had said, he just asked: "Why?"
"Shouldn't it be obvious?", Ornstein said.
Tempest considered for a bit. What did he know about Ornstein? He was looking surprisingly soft under this armour, at least his face, his body was pure muscle mass. He had super long hair which was also soft, but he didn't like it to be touched. And brushed. He had cute little fangs so that he didn't like to eat fruits in the whole or raw and preferred them cooked or mashed. He said of himself that he would try out every new food but Tempest had noticed that he favoured dishes with fish over every other dish. He liked sheep. He was exorbitantly good in training even a nobody like Tempest into something like a warrior. And then there was the most important fact Tempest had nearly forgotten, he had slayed like over eighty dragons on his own.
Oh, of course.
"You don't take kindly to fire, do you?", Tempest said, gaze still on the pots. The applesauce took form and the beans felt nearly cooked.
"You wouldn't too when you were in danger to get roasted alive every time you were sent out to battle...", Ornstein said. "If you had used your pyromancy you either would have had an easier time or an even harder time fighting me. I have two different reactions to it."
"But when you are afraid of fire, why haven't you said anything whenever I used my pyromancy?", Tempest asked.
"It's useful. Besides, you weren't using the pyromancy against me and I stayed far enough away to not be fazed by it." Ornstein drummed with his fingers on the table. "Isn't the food ready yet? I have hardly ate something sustainable the last few days."
"I wouldn't call this food sustainable...", Tempest said as he poured the applesauce in a bowl and added the green beans. He turned around and asked: "You are really sure you want to eat this?"
"Yes. And I also count on you to keep me company while I eat.", Ornstein said.
"Great. Just because I don't have to eat anymore doesn't mean that I am incapable of vomiting.", Tempest sat down opposite to Ornstein and watched. He was genuinely curious if the dragon slayer really would eat this stuff. Though, why should he torture himself? He probably had some weird taste in food.
It actually felt worth investigating.
Tempest eyes followed Ornstein's hand as he spooned the food and he cold see some of the beans in the apple sauce. He cringed when Ornstein actually ate this. He didn't look disgusted, but he also didn't look like he enjoyed it. He seemed more...thoughtful. Tempest also noticed that he seemed to take more time eating.
"So...", Tempest started, "Why do you want to eat this?"
Ornstein slowly finished chewing before he replied: "When I was still with Smough, he started to teach me cooking. I never got really good at it, how you have seen. I also had the habit to combine foods that are apparently not suited for each other at all."
Ornstein took another spoonful and continued the story after he had swallowed: "While Smough was quick to tell me that he would take care of the cooking, I liked to try out to eat food that shouldn't go with each other in secret. I don't know why, but it tasted exciting and it soon become something that could be described as a... guilty pleasure I guess."
"Weird.", Tempest only commented before realizing that he had to cook more meals like that. He shuddered at the thought. He might not be the one who had to eat it, but for his honour as a cook it truly felt like a punishment.
"Little Storm, what are your next plans?", Ornstein asked.
"I wanted to give you a break.", Tempest said without hesitating. "You got hurt while helping me and you already helped me getting two of the lord souls. And for the next one we have to go back to Blighttown." Ornstein's face fell as Tempest mentioned this. "Ah, sorry sorry, we at least won't have to stay long there at least. So I wanted to make sure that we both are ready to go."
"Didn't you want to take care of the black knights and visit the knight that freed you in the Asylum?", Ornstein asked.
"You remembered?!", Tempest's face sparkled. "...Uh, but I thought you wanted to get through with this as quickly as possible..."
"I changed my mind, is all.", Ornstein said, his gaze everywhere but on Tempest and Tempest could see the faint of a blush on his face.
"It is very appreciated.", Tempest smiled and put his head in his hand which got supported by his elbow on the table. "But first lets take a break."
"Good opportunity to train you some more.", Ornstein said, which make Tempest's face fell.
"Hey, I thought cooking the meals made up for you helping me."
"Don't worry, just regular training.", Ornstein grinned. "Not the super hard one I had in mind shouldn't you be cooperative and cook the meals."
As Ornstein had finished eating the moon had risen over Anor Londo, indicating that Gwyndolin had switched on the night. Ornstein was rather exhausted and decided to go to bed right away while Tempest strolled over to the bonfire and worked on fixing his armour.
"It got really messed up.", he groaned as he channelled souls into the repair box to fix it up. At least the damage was easily repaired. After Tempest was done, he took some stock on the items he collected in the catacombs and the Tomb of the Giants and sorted anything in the bottomless box that he wouldn't need in the near future.
After Tempest had repaired his armour, he did the same with his sword and shield and then considered if he should use his souls to strengthen himself or to buy stuff. He felt like he wanted to upgrade his pyromancy flame a bit more, so he decided to keep half of the souls he currently had as he strengthened himself.
After the work was done, Tempest wondered what he should do in the night. While it was possible for Undead to fall asleep and stay asleep, he felt far too giddy to actually go lay in a bed and drift off to sleep. He decided to wander the cathedral instead. His first stop was the illusion of the princess of sunlight.
Honestly, why was Gwyndolin keeping it around? Tempest had already seen through it, there wasn't a need for it anymore. And with Ornstein assigned at his side they made sure that he would go through with the mission. Tempest observed the illusion and asked himself if Gwynevere really had looked like that or if she was glorified for this illusion. He barely could believe that she was that big, even for a god that felt too much. His gaze fell onto her chest, surely a sight that made a lot of guys crazy once, but wasn't at any interest for Tempest. He much more preferred to get some hints of Ornstein's chest.
Tempest knew that it was the wrong thing to think, the dragon slayer surely wasn't in the slightest attracted to him, outright had denied that he got attached to him, though that felt like a denial in itself, but Tempest had been glad to hear that Ornstein was into guys too.
But they surely would go different paths once this all was over. Tempest was already happy that they had become friends. They were friends, right? After all, Ornstein had been fine with him washing his hair. The first time Tempest had ever touched Ornstein's hair the dragon slayer had been furious. That felt like a lot of progress.
Tempest stopped looking at the illusion and turned around to explore a different part of the cathedral. After a while of aimless walking he arrived at the room where Ornstein had let him wait once. The room could only be described as cozy. It was furnished with a bench with a lot of cushions on it, a table and a few chairs as well as a book shelf. There was a chimney at the wall, but it looked like it hadn't been lighted for a few weeks now. Neither had it been cleaned, it was full of ash.
Tempest walked over to the bookshelf and took a look at the books. Some of them were history books, some of them were cookbooks, most of them were novels. He took one and flipped through it, a romance novel like it seemed. He checked a few more, all romance novels. He wondered if Ornstein had read them or Smough, the executioner. Maybe they both had read them.
Tempest put the book he had flipped through back into the shelf and looked at the cushioned bench. He wondered if Ornstein and Smough had spend their time together at he bench, cuddling with each other. It was hard for Tempest to get a picture from this, not knowing how the executioner looked outside of his armour. As he still tried to find a face to this grotesque armour, his mind wandered and in his fantasy it was him who cuddled in Ornstein's embrace.
He shook his head. No, this would never happen. They didn't had that relationship, regardless how much Tempest wished for it. He doubted that Ornstein even could fall in love with a human, much worse an Undead. He was of the race of the gods. And he made it clear and clear again, that he only was at Tempest side for the mission. Tempest had the feeling that Ornstein liked him though, but like, it surely weren'T the same feelings Tempest felt. He sighed and went to the table. Like the last time, they were laying around quite a bunch of doodles. Ornstein was the only one who could have done them.
Tempest remembered that he had gotten mad the last time he looked but now Ornstein wasn't around, so Tempest decided to take a closer look.
Most of the drawings were of Ornstein himself and an even larger man with messy short hair, a full beard and a thick belly. Oh, that must have been Smough. Tempest did had a completely different person in mind, not one that looked so... normal. Tempest wondered if that drawings were Ornstein's way to cope with the death of his partner. Guilt bloomed through his chest again. He hadn't known about it, he kind of had to beat them to move on with the mission he had been tasked with, but he still felt sorry. It was awful loosing someone you cared for.
Tempest had lived through all of this already. When he had become Undead, he had to leave his friends and family behind (but could the one who betrayed him still be counted as friend?) and he had grown rather fond of some of the Undead Ayslum inhabitants... until they all had gone hollow.
...And sadly some of the Undead he had met on his journey had gone through a similar fate... His mind wandered to the Crestfallen Warrior... but this one already had given up. The other ones still had goals. They would be fine as long as they wouldn't give up.
Tempest would check up on all of them the next time on Fire Link Shrine. For now, he should rest alongside Ornstein so that they could get the third lord soul without great trouble.
As Tempest had looked through the drawings, all of Ornstein and Smough doing cute couple stuff, he found one that wasn't of this motive. He picked it up and looked at it with curiosity to see... him.
That was surprising. Tempest stared at the drawing. At first it looked like just a regular knight of Astora, wearing the elite knight set, but judging that this drawing had a katana with him and the visor was up and he could spot the way he grinned at it, made it clear that it was Tempest.
But why should Ornstein draw him?
He mainly seemed to draw things that he was fond of. So did that mean... did that mean that Ornstein was fond of Tempest...?
Tempest sighed as he laid the drawing back down. Ornstein surely wasn't liking him the same way as Tempest liked Ornstein. He had to get this into this head.
Tempest still felt glad that he had the opportunity to travel with the dragon slayer. And it certainly was able to talk with him. …Maybe Tempest should talk with Ornstein. Outright ask him who he was for him. It certainly would get his mind at ease.
Tempest decided to set a few things clear the next morning. For now he should go to bed. He could think about how to talk to Ornstein and after he figured it out he maybe would be able to get a bit of sleep.
To his surprise, Tempest really managed to fall to sleep and even slept long enough that Ornstein already was in the kitchen when he came stumbling in. And he was eating a slice of bread with marmelade... and pickles on it! Tempest cringed at the sight.
"Oh, good morning, little Storm.", Ornstein said, taking another bite of the horrible sandwich. "I was thinking that we could train a bit today before you cook my meal for the day."
"It can't be worse than this...", Tempest said. How someone could put sour stuff on overly sweat stuff and even worse, mix vegetables and fruits, wasn't to his understanding.
"So for today I would like to have a steak in lemon sauce.", Ornstein said. Tempest sat down at the table and let his head fall on it. "That IS worse..."
Lemon sauce would go to a lot of things, mainly pork and fish, but it certainly wasn't going well with steak. Heck, the whole flavour would get lost. Tempest nearly wished he hadn't chickened out with fighting the skeleton beasts. Nearly.
Thinking of chicken, Tempest asked if it was able to mess this up. You could do pretty much anything with it. Tempest doubted that Ornstein knew this and maybe he should coax the dragon slayer into a dish with chicken next.
As Ornstein was eating, Tempest remembered his thoughts from the last night and decided to just spill it right away: "Ornstein, what do you think about me?"
Ornstein stopped eating and looked Tempest over from toe to head. This sudden question surprised him. What was it the little Storm wanted to here? After having the feeling that enough time had passed, Ornstein simply answered: "You aren't a lost case anymore."
"That is not what I meant!", Tempest blurted out. "When you said, you weren't attached... how was this meant?!"
"How should this be meant? That I am not attached of course.", Ornstein said, an uneasy feeling in his chest. He knew that he already had gotten attached. It was too late to deny it, but by the remaining lord souls, he would try.
"No, I mean, how was attached meant in that context?", Tempest asked, seeming to grow more and more frustrated and impatient as the conversation went on.
"Why should you want to know that?", Ornstein asked. "I just help you because Gwyndolin ordered me too, not because I care about you or something." He averted his gaze and dearly hoped that his face hadn't blushed. In an attempt to hide any blushing, he picked up his food again and took another bite. The little Storm looked both relieved and disappointed.
"Oh, of course...", he said and grew silent. Ornstein had the feeling that every movement of him was followed by Tempest's gaze, it got so invasive after a while that he had to tell him to get him to the training grounds. Tempest complied without another word.
As Tempest waited for Ornstein at the training grounds, sharpening his sword, his thoughts wandered. Every time Ornstein said that he only followed Gwyndolin's order, but he also made it more than clear that it wasn't because he was caring about Tempest. Why did he had to add that? Didn't that mean that Ornstein was in denial about his own feelings?
"I would at least like him to hear that he cares about me...", Tempest murmured. It still hurt him. It still hurt that he seemed to be alone with his feelings. At least Ornstein was willing to spend time with him. Tempest decided that this would be enough. He had been alone in this land for far too long, having some company, even when it was a grumpy dragon slayer who claimed that he didn't like him, was the best thing that had happened to Tempest since he woke up in the Asylum.
When Ornstein came to the training Tempest used all the techniques he had learned during their time in the catacombs and the Tomb of the Giants and only after his Estus was empty they stopped and and Ornstein had to genuinely admit that Tempest had made him sweat.
After their training was over, Tempest cooked the dreaded steak with lemon sauce. This time Ornstein also wanted him to watch. Tempest thought that this was part of his punishment, but thinking about it... Ornstein just didn't want to be alone. When Tempest had learned at least one thing about Ornstein, then it was how lonely he was.
Maybe he didn't want to become attached because he was fearing of losing another person? If Tempest would going hollow it would be the same as him being dead, even worse, he would be damned to shamble around and attack anyone for souls, even the ones he loved... like Ornstein. What a frightening thought!
Though Tempest was absolutely sure with Ornstein at his side, he wouldn't get hollow anymore. He just had to show him. He had to show Ornstein that he could trust him. As this thought passed through his head, Tempest smiled.
"What are you grinning at?", Ornstein wanted to know, frowning and it was not because of the lemon sauce that Tempest had made extra sour.
"At you eating awful food without batting an eye.", Tempest quickly replied. "And me being glad that I don't have to be the one to eat it. Even though I am the one who has to cook it and that feels weird...
Ornstein seemed to be satisfied with Tempest's string of words. Because his leg had started to hurt again after the training session in the morning, he gave Tempest the afternoon free and went to lay down but only after he had requested the next dish.
Cheese soup with beer added in it. Tempest wrinkled his nose at the thought before he went off to find something to do.
(Author's note: So do you guys have any ideas for food that tastes awful with each other and is fitting for medieval times? Researching this has been rather challenging...)