Chapter 2: Late morning start
A/N: Haha! I told you there would be two-to-three updates a week. Here's the second chapter.
The next morning was a rather… annoying one, to say the least. No, it wasn't in the way that the assassin had woken up - he was actually quite content with the adc curled up on him like he was - it was the fact that he'd woken up an hour ago, as the sun had been rising and the brat still wasn't awake!
He had shaken the boy, thrown things at him from his position, moved her around, called out to him… and nothing was working! How he loathed heavy sleepers.
It was frustrating. Not only did the brat continue to snooze on, but every attempt to toss the boy to the side and get up had failed, seeing that those slender arms were wrapped tightly around his chest, and their legs were intertwined - at this point, he couldn't tell whose legs were who's anymore.
Practically growling with annoyance, the Noxian shifted slowly, rolling his shoulders as best he could to relieve some of his tense muscles. He hated staying in the same position for long, too long, because of this dumbass. He rarely stayed in the same position for too long unless he was on the job. He was, afterall, more focused on the job and could easily stay in the same position for hours on end if needed.
But this was just plain annoying.
He wanted to get up, make a relatively small breakfast, and then pack up the camp and head out, to make this journey of Ezreal's to be over as quick as possible.
Where did the brat even get the idea to go to Ionia?
Now that he thought about it, actually, why would the annoying pest even want to go there..?
Cocking his head slightly to the side in thought, the assassin huffed to himself, wondering if maybe, just maybe, the brat got the idea from his fellow adc, Varus. It was possible, afterall - those two seemed to be close and were housed in the same unit, as most marksmen were, like Caitlyn, Ezreal, Vayne, etc.
Sighing, the male simply decided that he would ask the sleeping boy whenever he decided to wake up...
If he ever decided to wake up, that is.
The Noxus assassin didn't even noticed that he had begun to doze off, until her felt the small blond in his arms shift slightly, a groan passing the boy's lips as he snuggled deeper into the warmth of the elder, pissed off assassin.
But instead of sitting there and taking it any longer, the assassin was sick of laying there, and he was quite hungry, so he decidedly tried to throw the boy off of himself...
Well...
He didn't throw the brat off, more like gently pried him off, before rolling the still sleeping idiot to the other side of the sleeping bag... but even if the assassin was pissed, the fact that he had missed a good hour and a half of daylight, made him more frustrated than anything.
Quickly, the assassin shook his head, his emerald hues darkening slightly before he slowly got up, gathering his cloak and weapons quickly and slipping free of the tent, intent on making breakfast and keeping his distance from the annoyingly cute boy. Afterall, he couldn't have feelings for anyone or anything, even if it was simply just admiration or desire.
He, personally, didn't allow himself to even tempt the idea.
Love, lust, desire... three things his life never consisted of, unless it was blind passion and anger, hatred. Love wasn't something you face in war, especially if you're one of the most hated beings that walked in the League(Aside from few others, he really was).
Shaking his head slowly as his thoughts drifted to a path he didn't want to go down, the assassin was glad for the sudden distraction as a bundle of energy burst through the tent, blond hair waving as he shot up and out of the warm area, instantly awake, holding his shirt and glove absently, while rubbing his eyes, was Ezreal.
Frowning at the sight of the boy, he raised a slender eyebrow, although now his features were once again hidden by his cloak.
"Finally decided to join the world of the living, sleeping beauty?" The assassin growled, and by the tone of his voice, the adc could tell that Talon was angry.
A faint blush curled the boy's cheeks, his full lips pulling into one of those pouts that Talon had already grown accustomed to. "It's not that late!" He whined, only then realizing that he was shirtless and his blush deepened.
"Yeah, right." The assassin rolled his eyes, glancing at the sky where the sun was already approaching noon. "I made lunch, by the way. You're a pain in the ass to wake up." He added, this time his tone teasing, even as he held out the cooling food he had indeed made for the shirtless boy.
"U-uhm... T-thanks..." The boy mumbled, softly, taking the food but setting it down quickly, to tug his shirt on in a hurry, not even realizing that he had put it on backwards.
Oh, come on. Now that's just fuckin' adorable...
The assassin had to hold in a laugh as he gazed at the flustered boy, who clearly had no idea that he had just put both his undershirt and over shirt on backwards or inside out. Ezreal, who was now reaching eagerly for the food, with a smile gracing his lips as he went to pick up his food-
That is, before he heard a low, smooth and yet dangerous sound that made his heart freeze as he glanced up at the Blade's Shadow.
Talon...Talon was laughing.
The assassin was laughing!
Ezreal was completely hopeless as to why the low laugh annoyed, yet soothed him, and he had no idea as to why the male was even laughing in the first place... that is, until Talon mutter out the soft words of,
"...Your...Shirt's on backwards, kid..."
The Noxian had no idea why he found this so funny, but he did. And it had been so long since he had last laughed... so it was such a relief to know that he still could.
In this life, of war and death, most people never really found anything to laugh about, nor did they ever find anything to laugh about in the years to come, so being able to laugh... to even smile a little bit was a relief for the dark, dangerous man.
It meant he was still human.
And he was glad for it. Because, even if he was an assassin, he didn't want to just completely leave his entire life behind, for the simple fact that hey, you kill people for a living. He was only human... He wasn't just some weapon for other's to use and abuse as they liked.
Shaking his head, as he watched the small blond quickly right his shirt, he couldn't help but think that maybe this journey will be good for me, too.
Once they had been able to finally get going, they walked for hours, Talon not really feeling the burn of walking for the long period, but the explorer was getting tired... or staring at the same damn landscape for the past four or so hours.
Not only that, but they hadn't stopped for a break for water, or even a little nibble of a snack.
No, Talon just kept on walking, ignoring the little adc's needs.
Because in truth, he was forcing himself not to care, even if he did keep glancing behind himself every time the brat lagged behind, or would call out for him to slow down.
All he did was kept telling himself that he didn't care and would keep walking. It wasn't his problem if the explorer couldn't handle walking for a few hours straight.
When they finally stopped, though, the sun had long since descended from the sky, and the moon had slowly risen, casting strange yet beautiful shadows around the area.
They had the same setup as the night before, with Ezreal setting up the tent, Talon making both the final meal of the day and the fire, and that one sleeping bag the they'd eventually have to crawl into to sleep.
Ezreal was dreading it. He didn't want to know how the man would react to him cuddling up to the assassin. He really didn't want to know - from what he's heard of this devilishly handsome man, he'd slit your throat for simply looking at him the wrong way... but then again, those were all just.. rumors...right...?
As the fire crackled and popped, the food slowly cooking, Talon's mind wandered off to a different place, to the life he had always imagined as a kid before everything went terribly wrong... his mind wandered off to a life where he had a wife, and possibly children, and that the war between Noxus and Demacia would slow to a stop.
But obviously, that would never happen. It couldn't. Noxus and Demacia would never be able to live in harmony... it just didn't seem possible, with how they were as a whole.
Sighing softly, the assassin plucked a few pieces of the food he was cooking, and nibbled at them, testing to see if they were well-done enough.
Luckily they were.
That night, they ate in complete silence, Talon refusing to voice any of his thoughts, and Ezreal still pouting about the fact that Talon had forced him to walk for so damn long today, that and that the man had laughed at him earlier didn't help, either.
Eventually, though, they had to retire to bed.
Stomping out the fire, leaving barely burning coals, the assassin was once again the first to enter the tent, shrugging off the necessary items again, before he rolled his shoulders, quickly stretching the muscles just in case he would be stuck in another awkward position in the morning... which he knew was more then likely the case.
As soon as Ezreal entered the tent, he didn't bother taking anything off, and instead collapsed onto the sleeping bag, worming his way under it and snuggling into the slight warmth it gave off, falling asleep almost instantaneously.
As for Talon... his night was rather uneventful, besides the fact that he couldn't sleep half the night.
As soon as he laid down, that cute blond rolled over, and curled up on him like a kitten would it's mother, latching onto him, pressing flush against his body, and making it unbearable for the assassin, even as he drew the cute, kitten-like adc closer to him, and trying to force strange thoughts down, trying to force himself to sleep.
But he found no sleep that night, because his mind was restless with images that he dared not to think about - otherwise he'd realized that he'd want them to happen. And soon.