II
Tulio grinned happily and snuggled closer to Chel on the cushion they were sharing. "You know what's more beautiful than this entire city?" he asked playfully.
"Hmm?" Chel asked, not looking at him.
"You," Tulio answered, kissing her on the cheek.
"Why, aren't you a gentleman," Chel said with a small smile. Tzekal Kan never says that to me.
"Hasn't anyone ever told you that?" Tulio asked, clearly shocked.
"Not a soul," Chel answered. She made a big show of hugging Tulio, mentally laughing at his lack of common sense that she was pretending. "So where is our Miguel?"
Tulio frowned a little and sat back. "He was sleeping when I left the temple, I didn't want to wake him up."
"Oh." Good. The longer I can keep these two apart, the better the chances of this plan working.
"I haven't been spending much time with him since we got here," Tulio admitted, a thoughtful look on his face. "This is supposed to be our adventure. I hope he's not upset." He looked at Chel with a frown. "I should go check on him."
"I'll go with you," Chel said, getting up and following behind Tulio. She figured that Miguel might get upset if he saw the two of them together. I'm going to kill him anyway, what does it matter if I get him a little angry first?
Tulio smiled a little in her direction. "Our Miguel, huh?"
Chel looked at him, fake interest plastered on her face. "Well, I figure you share everything else with me, so why not share Miguel?" She actually didn't care one bit about Miguel; she only wanted to get rid of him and Tulio so she could have Tzekal Kan to herself.
"He should be up," Tulio guessed aloud as they entered their temple. "Miguel? Are you here?"
"Tulio!" Miguel exclaimed, popping out from behind a curtain.
Tulio jumped a little and looked at his partner. "What? Miguel, you scared me! Why are you hiding behind a curtain?"
"I'm not hiding," Miguel lied, coming out into the temple and walking towards him. He glanced at Chel and then decided to ignore her, looking back at Tulio. "Did Tzekal Kan come to see you?"
"No," Tulio replied, looking confused. "Why?"
"Oh, he came here," Miguel added anxiously. He noticed that Chel looked away with a jealous look on her face.
"About what?" Tulio asked, frowning when Miguel looked away. "Did he do something to you?" He reached out and put his hands on Miguel's shoulders. "Did he hurt you?"
"No, no, he didn't do anything," Miguel answered. "It was just weird. He wanted to make sure that I was going to the feast tonight."
Tulio raised an eyebrow and was about to speak when the chief walked in to the temple. "Chief."
"My lords, the feast is almost ready to begin," the chief announced happily. "We will await your arrival."
"Oh, ok, good. We'll be down soon," Tulio said, removing his hands from Miguel's shoulders. He mentally frowned when he saw Miguel put his head down and look away sadly.
"Excellent, the citizens will be most happy to see you." The chief smiled and bowed before exiting the temple.
"I'll get the robes out," Chel said as she walked off to the back of the temple.
Tulio watched her go and then looked down at Miguel. "Are you ok, Miguel?" he asked quietly.
Miguel looked back up at him. "Yeah."
"Are you sure? You look…sad."
Miguel shrugged and looked down at the ground again. "I miss you, Tulio."
Tulio frowned slightly. "I miss you too. I know I haven't been spending much time with you lately."
"You have a reason," Miguel grumbled flatly.
"Chel is no reason for me to leave you alone all the time," Tulio said truthfully. He put his arm around Miguel and pulled him a little closer. "I'm sorry. Tomorrow it's just going to be me and you, I promise."
Miguel smiled a little at him. "Ok."
"Ok, put these on so you're not late," Chel interrupted as she came back with the robes. She practically threw Miguel's at him and handed Tulio his sweetly.
Miguel bit back his emotions when he saw the interaction between Tulio and Chel. I get the feeling Tulio won't be keeping his promise for very long.
TBC