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“So…If we all die tomorrow. Which we probably will…what’s one thing that you haven’t done…that you’d, um…you’d really like to have done?”
Foldo slowed his moments but doesn’t stop entirely.
“Honestly?” he asked.
“Honestly,” Jussipo told him.
Foldo hesitates. Surely, Jussipo isn’t saying what he’s thinking he’s saying, is he? Foldo thought back to all the looks they gave each other. Foldo had been convinced that it was all in his head, that someone as witty and clever and handsome and talented as Jussipo could ever been interested in someone like Foldo. Foldo, as Iona had told him, fumbled over his words, taking five minutes to say something that should have taken one second.
Then again…Jussipo had called him brave. And handsome, Foldo couldn’t forget that. So perhaps, it wasn’t entirely in his head? Jussipo had asked him what he honestly wanted to do. What he honestly wanted to do was kiss Jussipo, and if there was ever a time to do it, now it would be it.
Foldo plucked up the courage he had, leaned over and placed a soft kiss on the other boy’s lips. The kiss lasted but a moment, but it felt more wonderful than anything Foldo had done in his entirely short life. He wanted more, but he also didn’t want to push his luck.
They both leaned back. Jussipo turned his face away and lets out a sigh.
Was that good? Foldo wondered. Perhaps Jussipo couldn’t look at him because Foldo was a terrible kisser, or perhaps Foldo had misread all the cues and all the looks were just friendly looks between two friends, two fellow novices on a journey together and not the look one shares with someone they really like, and how could Foldo misconstrue that as anything more than that?
Before Foldo had any chance to berate himself further, Jussipo turned to his lute and began to strum a few strings.
Foldo hoped Jussipo isn’t going to write a terrible song about this. Not that Foldo had minded Jussipo’s songs before. They were terrible, but a wonderful kind of terrible that made you smile and laugh at how silly the lyrics were. Foldo couldn’t bear to think of such a song written about him and his terrible instincts. A part of Foldo was quite glad that Iona and Arman were not there to add further humiliation to the whole incident.
“His looks were so alluring. Young Foldo’s heart was purring,” Jussipo sang out.
Foldo felt his heart fill with such sweet relief and a warm feeling settled over him, left him feeling happy all over.
“Purring? That’s the best you can come up with?” Foldo teased him. He really did like the other boy, but Foldo had to admit that he wrote terrible songs sometimes.
“It’s the first draft,” Jussipo said defensively, finally turning back to look at him. “Revisions to follow.”
Foldo nodded his head in acknowledgement and gestured for Jussipo to continue his lovely tune. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, terrible lyrics and all. After all, Jussipo had never written song just about him before. The thought that there could be more songs solely about him in the future filled Foldo with all kinds of joy.
“And the love between them lasted till the grave.”
Foldo didn’t like the thought of that, of graves and dying, feeling the words bring back the feelings of before, of fear and failure, of dying without accomplishing anything. Foldo forced himself not to think about that. Instead, he thought about Jussipo, who was still adding more lyrics to his not-so-terrible song, but the longer it lasted, the less sense it made. Somehow the song had shifted about Foldo’s fine features and the love between the two to Jussipo’s more admirable qualities, like most of his songs were wont to do.
Maybe a love that lasted to the grave wouldn’t be so bad. They were both quite young, but Foldo found he wouldn’t mind a life with handsome Jussipo and his songs, of being knighted together, sharing adventures far and wide, a true team in all the ways that mattered. No, Foldo found he didn’t mind the idea so much.
“Have I lulled into astonished silence, Foldo? I know my voice is amazing, enough to wipe my dear Foldo into an enraptured stupor?” Jussipo asked with a wide smile.
“What?” Foldo asked, failing to realize that he had been silent for a while, too busy admiring Jussipo’s sweet voice and pretty face. “N-no! Don’t be silly.”
“Or maybe you’d like to do something more than just listening to me play?” Jussipo asked suggestively.
Foldo felt his face turn red at the other boy’s words. “I-I’d like that actually.”
Jussipo leans over and kisses Foldo softly on the lips. Foldo still doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to this. Ever.
There was more, so much more than Foldo wanted to do, but that would have to wait for another time, when their doom wasn’t so close at hand, and there wasn’t a snoring Piak slumbering over next to the fire. They would have time, Foldo promised himself, to do all the things he wanted to do and more.
For the moment, Foldo relaxed as he exchanged soft, gentle kisses with Jussipo, thinking about him and nothing else. If they did all die tomorrow, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, at least maybe not without Jussipo at his side.