Chapter Text
Clarity opened his eyes when he felt a ray of morning light from the window hit his face. He stayed in his position for a while before decided to curl back under the blanket. He still felt sleepy because the lack of sleep last night, nightmare still won't leave him alone for years.
Today was a big day. The elves will hold a ceremony to welcome the autumn season. All elves and the queen will gather around the Tree of Life, singing gratitude to the forest, soil, clouds, and the sun for the good harvest this year. He should get ready since this will be the first autumn ceremony he'd be attending after getting sealed for hundreds of years.
But Clarity was still very sleepy. The cold breeze morning wind, the fresh forest air, and the soft and warm mattress makes him wanted to close his eyes again.
'Five more minutes,' he thought. 'Five more minutes.'
CRACK!
The sound of snapping branches made Clarity open his eyes. He sharpened his hearing, hoping it was only an animal forest playing nearby so he could sleep again.
SREET.. SREETT..
Nope. It's not an animal. He heard the sound of someone climbing his tree house with a rope. He immediately woke up and took his bow and arrow, going into alert mode. Elves are very good at climbing trees, so they don't need tools like ropes to help them climb. So whoever climbs his tree must be an intruder.
With caution, he walked towards the entrance door and turned the lock quietly so that the intruder didn't notice his presence. He approached the edge of his tree house, then pointed the arrow down, making the creature screamed.
"AAAHHHH WHAT THE FUCK!"
But what he saw was a familiar human figure, currently climbing a tree with a rope wrapped around his hip. His two legs skilfully searching a branch to step. One of his gloved hands held the rope for support, meanwhile the other hand held a basket.
"Mole??" The elf lowers his guard.
"Naib.. you scared me to death," said the man. He didn't wear his usual clothes, but something looks expensive and ridiculous. It looks too tight for climbing.
"What are you doing here?"
"Queen invited me to the autumn ceremony, so I decided to drop by your place first," he said, but then noticed the bow and arrow in the elf's hand. "Am I not welcomed?"
Naib realized and immediately put down his weapon. "It's not that. Just surprised, that's all," said Naib as he took the basket from Norton's hand, hoping the young man could climb more easily.
But Mole still seems to be having a hard time. His strange clothes were very uncomfortable to look at. Naib could see his movements were held back by those suits. Norton tried to raise his feet to the floor, but failed as it was so slippery from the morning dew. He stay put to control his breath before looking at Naib, extending his hands towards the elf.
" Tur- cin on- nin a bor? (Can you give me a hand?)"
Clarity grabbed the human's hand and pulled him.
" Ni care- vamme sinte tye pole- quet- eldarin lambe (I didn't know you can speak elvish language),"
"I learned a bit for the past few months," Norton replied while shoving dirt from his pants.
Clarity shrugged. "Just speak human language like usual. Your elvish intonation is weird," earning a chuckle from the human.
Naib looked around while waiting for Norton to roll his rope. The elf spotted beautiful red apples on a branch near his house, ready for harvest. 'Bless the nature,' he thought as he tiptoed to pick one fruit and shoved it to his mouth.
He was about to enter his house, but remembered about Norton. Maybe the human also wanted an apple? "Have you eaten?" he asked.
Norton hanged his rope on the door handle as he welcomed himself inside Clarity's tree house. "Not yet, but it's fine," he said as he pointed towards the basket. "The local inn packed me breakfast before I go." Norton took out something wrapped in a napkin.
Naib's eyes followed the item at the human's hand, clearly curious about it. Norton then revealed his 'food', a 2-layered triangle shaped item. "We call this sandwich. Made from bread and you can fill it with anything," he explained.
"Bread? Sand..wich?" Clarity tried the new words in his tongue.
Mole nodded and gave out his hand, asking the elf to hand his apple. Naib hesitated at first, but then gave his half bitten apple to Norton, who immediately took out a knife from his pocket and cut it into thin slices.
Naib watched as the human put the slices of apple above one layer of triangular bread and covered it with another layer of bread. Then Norton gave the newly made sandwich to the elf. "Here, try it."
Naib just stayed quiet, his posture was more alert. He gave a look of disbelief, but Norton quickly caught the meaning of those stare.
"Don't worry, it's not poisoned," the Mole said as he gave a bite to the sandwich, chomping and swallowing it in front of the elf to show it's safe to eat.
Naib hesitantly accepted the sandwich, giving it a small bite. The thing he called 'bread' was plain, but the texture was soft and sometimes crunchy from the crust. The apple between the bread gave a fresh taste as he unconsciously took a second larger bite, enjoying the new taste in his tongue.
Norton smiled, taking a new bread for himself. "Next time, I'll bring you apple pie or some cake that you like from the town's bakery."
'That I like?' Naib can't help but think about his word. He didn't even know what apple pie or cakes are, but Norton implied like he would like it. "No need to come here just to bring me food.. Just visit whenever you want, as usual. Your company alone was enough," said the elf.
Norton stayed silent for a while and coughed when the word sank. He looked away, trying to hide his face. Naib didn't understand the human's odd behavior, so he just let him be.
They both continued their breakfast in silence.
After they finished their breakfast, Clarity walked to the closet, took out his usual shirt and blue hoodie. Norton watched him from behind, but Naib can't help but notice a strange behavior from the human.
"What?"
"Uhh .. you didn't forget what day this is, right?"
"Of course not. Why?"
"Your clothes..." Norton pointed to his fresh clothes. "Don't you need to use something more elegant for the ceremony?"
Naib frowned. "I don't need it. I'm not in the center of attention anyway, so I don't have to wear any fancy clothes. Besides, it's only a normal ceremony-"
The elf paused as he realized something. "... is this your first time going to the elves’s autumn ceremony?"
"Yes..?" Human and elf's relationship had never been good in the past, but they just started to get along after the great war some time ago. So it's normal for Norton not knowing about elves tradition.
"Pfft. No wonder your clothes were too flashy. Maybe flashier than the queen."
"Well I apologize, sir Clarity, as I don't know what kind of celebration this is. So I took the best clothes in my closet." Norton rolled his eyes out of embarrassment. Naib want to laugh thinking about Mr.Mole, the well respected human and considered to be a hero among elves, just sounded very stupid in front of him.
Norton realized that expression, then replied, "At least I have different kinds of clothes in my closet, unlike yours. I almost thought you had never changed your clothes because it always looks the same."
"Asshole," said Naib, knowing that the human's rude words didn't mean anything offensive. Things had always been like this between them, enjoying each other's company but sometimes bickering. Somehow acting like this around Norton felt natural, just like they had been like this for years.
Naib removed his nightwear, revealing his scarred body. He could almost feel Norton staring too hard, but it wasn't a disgusted glance so it didn't make him feel uncomfortable. He hung his nightwear inside the closet and put on his casual shirt, buttoning it one by one.
A pair of hands reached Naib's smaller one, replacing the job to work on his shirt's button. Naib glanced up just to find Norton's face really close to his. He held his breath with the sudden closeness.
Norton's finger began working on buttoning Naib's shirt from the top, but his eyes stared straight into Naib's yellow irises. Naib accidentally stared back, bewitched by the deep onyx, unable to look away.
"Next time I'll take you to the tailor in the city. I'll buy you some new clothes."
"Y-you don't need to do that..." The elf replied, unconsciously stuttering.
When he was finished with his button, Norton's hand reached his head, combing the messy long hair and tucked it behind his pointy ears. Their faces were so close that Naib could feel Norton's breath on his face.
"You're beautiful, Clarity.."
Naib tried to remain vigilant to the human, but for some reason he could not reject this sensation. His head felt empty, he can't think of anything other than Norton. There is something in that touch that makes Naib feel strangely familiar, and it felt comfortable like he's been carving for this for a long time. His heart was racing, just like when he was running in the battlefield. But there wasn't any battle going on right now. Only him and Norton, standing inside his treehouse.
In the midst of the elf's confusion, Norton pressed his lips to Naib's forehead. The strange touch on his head made Naib conscious and immediately pushed the human's body away. Norton seemed surprised by the sudden force as he stumbled backwards.
Naib took a knife from his pocket while trying to regulate his breathing and heartbeat. "W-what are you doing? What are you planning to do?" his posture was fierce. Maybe this was the human's plan from the start? To make him drop his guard and then did something?
But what he saw in front of him was Norton, looking at him with surprise, his face showed hurt by Naib's words. The elf instantly regrets his action as he puts the knife back into his belt with guilt.
Now Naib has mixed feelings. He was always suspicious of humans, but seeing Norton sad made him sick somehow. Not knowing what he had to do, Naib looked away.
"I-i wasn't.. I'm just... s-sorry. See you at the ceremony."
He left his treehouse and skillfully jumped and climbed towards the Tree of Life, leaving Norton alone.