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It started with the ring at the office, an action Zolf will never forget.
He’s never really thought of Hamid in the way that he did now, never noticed how his heart pounded when he looked at him. But that was until he was picking up the seemingly dangerous object, and the next thing he knew Hamid had grabbed it out of his hands before he had a chance to react. Hamid had quickly put it on his own finger, saying “Zolf, I cannot let you do that”, and Zolf’s heart turned into a mashed potato. Because no matter how clearly distressed and upset Hamid was right then, he did that for him. Even when Hamid didn’t fully know how dangerous it was.
Throughout the rest of the negotiation with Barret, he was trying to act formal and strike a deal but his mind kept wandering back to it and the small act of bravery Hamid had done for him. It probably meant nothing, just a thing a friend does, especially because Zolf was technically the leader of the group. But that was until it happened again.
They had gotten into combat with some nasty looking men who wanted to hurt them, but the team was winning and they had already knocked two of the bastards down. Hamid was very shy and nervous in a battle, and Zolf noticed he was standing of the side slightly trying not to cry. Zolf was too busy standing off on the last guy, flashing his trident proudly, and he didn’t notice he was being flanked until it was too late. A searing pain shot through his chest and he cried out, dropping his weapon as tears stung at his eyes, and he dizzyingly fell onto his knees, breath catching in his throat. He heard an echo of “Zolf!” ringing through his head but was too stunned to register who it was yet. The next thing he heard was a grunt as the man who stabbed him fell to the floor, Sasha stabbing him repeatedly in the side.
Zolf fell to the floor trying to catch his breath as the pain grew and attacked his side, causing his vision to blur from the tears that ran down his face.
The next thing he knew, he was looking up at Hamid, who had gently put his hand on Zolf’s shoulder and was squeezing it softly; suddenly, the pain wasn’t so bad anymore.
“Zolf, I've got you are you ok?”
He was staring up into the halfling’s eyes, and he wasn’t sure if it was because of his injury or the intense colour of his eyes making him hot and clammy, but it was all he could do not to pass out. Hamid's face fell, and he somehow looked paler then he had previously but held himself together. Then, Hamid was putting his hand under his chin and lifting his head up, and Zolf forgot how to breathe.
“Hamid-“ he tried to breathe out an apology or tell him it was no fuss and he didn’t need to do this, but his throat was tight and a grunt of pain escaped instead.
“Um, I’ve got one healing potion left-“ Hamid faltered on his words as Zolf continued to stare dazedly at him, and he swore he saw the smallest shade of red colouring his cheeks.
Hamid took his hand off of Zolf’s shoulders quickly, and Zolf couldn’t fail to notice the absence of warmth that had been on his skin. Zolf could only grunt a reply that was supposed to be ‘Hamid, no, save it for yourself when you get hurt’.
Then, there was a pop of the lid and Hamid offered it out to him with the kindest smile.
Zolf felt himself going red, suddenly embarrassed that he was being babied, but drank it eagerly. He felt the strength grow back in his muscles as the pain subsided, as his body healed and went back to normal.
Hamid had already gotten up and hurried back to the others to help hide the bodies, but his touch on Zolf’s skin still lingered like a silent kiss. He couldn’t get the image of Hamid blushing out of his mind. Yet again, Zolf was caught off guard and vulnerable as he watched Hamid running around trying to help everyone. Surely that was the last time, right? Hamid wasn’t going to drop everything again for him, right?
It was another battle (they seemed to get into them a lot), and this one was bloody since they were very outnumbered. The team was slightly ruffled and bruised up, but they were making their slow and deliberate retreat back so they could escape this mess quickly. All of them, apart from Zolf, failed to notice the archer that was aiming right at their heads. Zolf caught the glimpse of sliver out of the corner of his eye just a second before it was fired. What happened next all seemed to happen in slow motion.
The team all jumped out of the way, but because of Zolf’s peg leg he couldn’t get out the way fast enough. But he didn’t need to, because he felt the crash of someone grabbing his waist right before he hit the floor, and the whoosh of the arrow passes where his head was seconds ago. He turned around instantly and saw Hamid hugging his waist tightly. Feeling a bit shocked that Hamid had pulled him down and was now on top of him, he started to laugh.
“Oh, uh-” Hamid got up quickly, failing to hide the deep red that took over his whole face. Zolf sat up quickly, ignoring the heat creeping to his own face.
“Wow, that was a close one- thanks, Hamid.” Hamid flashed a small smile, not looking at him and fiddling with his hands.
“D-don’t mention it.”
It’s too late; Zolf had fallen for him. He just hoped it wasn’t too obvious right now, and that the red in Hamid's cheeks wasn’t because he was embarrassed he had fallen on him. If Hamid liked him, then it would make it slightly complicated, sure, but he wasn’t against it. But then, Sasha was yelling at them to hurry up and get back into fighting as she dashed past, slashing and stabbing, and the moment was gone.
Later that night, they found a tavern in Other London to rest for the night, as it had been a long day and Bertie had been yelling about how he had gone 24 hours without a brandy. So now, Zolf was sitting in a crowded bar at seven o'clock at night with his friends, as he very slowly drank a beer. Everyone else had drunk way more, and he noticed with a chuckle that Hamid was very drunk. He watches Hamid flop onto a table, singing loudly and very squeakily. Zolf had decided to not get so bad, so in the morning he wouldn’t be hung over and more aware in case they got into a fight again and needed protection. They couldn’t do that if all the team had bad hangovers. Plus, it was definitely a benefit to watch Hamid - who was now standing on a table to make himself taller so he could be seen over everyone - whilst he rambled about god knows what with one half-empty bottle in his hand, as Bertie drunkenly cheered him on.
Zolf kept watching until he realised he had been staring for the past half an hour and awkwardly looked away. His eyes had met with Hamid’s, and that’s when he realised he had been staring.
A few hours into this and it started getting late; they were all slowing down as they got more tired. Sasha had already gone upstairs to her room, since she wasn’t a party person, and Bertie was asleep on the sofa snoring loudly. Zolf sighed as Hamid lazily stared into the distance, humming to himself. Zolf could look at him like this for a while, but he was also drowsy and couldn’t keep his eyes open.
“Come on, Hamid, let’s get you to bed now.” His caring voice kicked in as he realised exactly how drunk Hamid was. Damn, Hamid hadn’t held back on the alcohol.
Hamid looked at him and pulled a face as though he couldn’t be bothered, and then proceeded to hiccup and flop onto his back lying across the table. It was really cute. Zolf scooped him up without asking, but Hamid didn’t even complain; he just curled into Zolf, grabbing at his clothes and snuggling into his chest. Zolf almost dropped Hamid as a wave of heat washed over him - that was the cutest thing he’d ever done, and he was starting to feel dizzy. It was so hot in this bar.
He started to carry Hamid upstairs, when suddenly Hamid was murmuring something into Zolf's chest. Zolf moved his hands down and started gently stroking his arm. He didn’t know why; it was just instinct at this point, but it caused Hamid to roll over and flash his eyes at Zolf. Zolf felt the heat rush to his face as he looked away shakily. Godsdamn, this halfling was gonna kill him. Of course, he wasn’t going to be able to predict what was going to happen next.
As he found Hamid's room, he opened the door slowly. He carefully walked in, not bothering to turn on the light since Hamid will be sleeping soon and the light may hurt his eyes. He placed Hamid carefully onto the bed and plumped up the pillows so that Hamid can rest his head. Hamid tried to let out a protest, but it came out in an adorable little drunk slurring of noises.
“Shh, get some sleep Hamid,” Zolf whispered, and physically fought the urge to pat his head or run his hand through his lovely messy hair or do something silly like that. Hamid hadn’t let go of his jacket sleeve and was holding onto his arm tightly. His little head had flopped onto the pillow, but from the intense feeling of being watched, Zolf could tell that his eyes were looking straight at him and trying to find his face in the darkness. He was glad that the lights were off, cause he could imagine he was blushing quite badly now.
“Hey, turn the bedside lights on, I want to see you again,” Hamid mumbled half into the pillow, and Zolf took about five seconds to be able to reply.
“Come on now, Hamid, go to sleep-”
“Can I kiss you?”
It was so sudden, so out of place that Zolf felt like he’d just been slapped in the face. Immediately, he felt his hands go clammy and sticky as he tried to wipe them on his clothes to calm his rapidly increasing heart rate.
“Uh, wh-what?” he said, stuttering and trying to convince himself that it was real and he wasn’t just hallucinating that Hamid actually wanted to kiss him.
“Can I… try and just see what it’s like to kiss you?” Hamid let out an awkward laugh and Zolf felt the edges of his mouth extend so wide he felt like his smile could break out of his face.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
But all that came out was a laugh as he touched his face, mind racing. He stumbled a bit with his words, so instead, he decided to show how he was feeling with actions, the yes that he so clearly wanted to say lingering on his lips, refusing to be let free.
He carefully lifted his free hand and placed it gently on Hamid's warm and slightly shaking hand, squeezing tightly. This was going to be Zolf’s first kiss, and to be completely honest, he wasn’t sure exactly what to do. He hoped Hamid was far too drunk to notice. But the negative thoughts kept rushing through his head: ‘Hamid is drunk’, and ‘you’re taking advantage of him, he doesn’t actually want to kiss you’.
Hamid had somehow managed to make himself sit up, and he was leaning closer to Zolf, the distance between them narrowing until he could feel warm hands and his alcohol-coated breath. Zolf pulled back slightly.
“Wait, Hamid,” he shook his head, trying to clear it. “Are you sure you want to? You’re drunk and-“
“I love you, Zolf,” he cut in, almost instantly. “I didn’t tell you before because I’ve been too shy but yes. Yes, I want this. I want you. And if I’m not mistaken, I think you want this too. If you would let me.”
This was the most sense Hamid had made all evening, and Zolf felt the compassion and truth behind his words.
“Yes” Zolf breathed and leaned down until their lips met.
Zolf couldn’t fully remember everything that happened in that instant; he remembered closing his eyes as a wave of dizziness hit him as their mouths moved desperately around each other’s, his head tilting to match the movement of Hamid's. It was sloppy and messy, probably due to how drunk Hamid was, but Zolf didn’t care. Hamid’s lips were wet, and he got a taste of whatever drink Hamid had been drinking, but it didn’t make him gag or stop. In fact, Hamid's hands had now grasped him tightly and pulled him closer.
He heard his own heartbeat thumping loud and clear in his head as they kept going for god knows how long. Zolf lost track.
Eventually Hamid pulled away slowly, and they sat there for a second in the darkness, trying to process what had just happened. Zolf was the first to break the silence in a laugh as he let out the breath he had been holding in, and desperately tried to get his breathing back to normal.
“Wow,” Hamid gasped as he leaned back. “Was that ok?”
Zolf felt like laughing again, but if that was from the lightheadedness, shock or because of course it was ok, he couldn’t tell.
His eyes were open wide now as he stared into the darkness where he knew Hamid’s face was, missing the connection and already wanting to kiss him again.
“That was more than ok, Hamid,” he said with a wide smile. It earned a noise of joy from Hamid, who had plumped his face back into the pillow as he closed his eyes.
Zolf got to his feet shakily, and bent down next to Hamid's face, which he could tell had a stupid grin. Damn, he wished he could see Hamid blushing right now.
“Rest well, Hamid. Goodnight.” He leaned down and gave him another kiss on the forehead before standing up tall, taking one last glance back and reminding himself that he was going to see him tomorrow.
He closed the door behind him on the way out.