Work Text:
Sigurd's army had been stationed in Sailaine for long enough that Lewyn found it reasonable to presume most people had formed routines already. For example, he already knew that Lady Edain started cooking dinner shortly after lunch. She insisted on cooking, even though Queen Rahna had given them as many accommodations as she could; including a full contingency of well-prepared servants.
He only knew this about Edain because every day, Azelle met her in the threshold of the kitchen, offering his help. She didn't always need it, but some days she did, and when that was the case, Azelle would spend the next few hours in the kitchen with Edain. It wasn't as though Lewyn disliked how much time the fire mage spent cooking there, but it made it difficult to intercept Azelle and perhaps wrest a conversation out of him, so it did put a wrench in things.
Today he decided to loiter in the proper position to have a clear view of the kitchen's threshold in order to intercept Azelle a little quicker. Last night had seen the first snowfall of Silesse, which was always light and fluffy without being overwhelming. It was the perfect thing to introduce to a desert-raised boy in Lewyn's opinion, and he also selfishly wanted to see whatever joy or mysticism would cross Azelle's face at the new discovery.
So he waited, as usual, but with an unusual sort of excitement just imagining how cute Azelle's face would be lit up with wonderment. Maybe his crush was a little bit more than “little” by now, but he had better things to worry about. Like, for example, why Azelle seemed to be late.
Lewyn folded his arms, bending to peer down each direction of the hallway. Edain was approaching, so he quickly straightened out and pretended his loitering had no purpose.
“Good afternoon, Lewyn,” Edain greeted him amiably. She was the friendly, mothering sort. It was little wonder she got along so well with Azelle.
He nodded in response, already looking behind her to see if she had Azelle in tow. The redhead was nowhere to be found. She let out a small laugh, and Lewyn immediately wondered if she was laughing at him.
“Looking for Azelle?” she asked.
For a moment, Lewyn felt almost as though he’d been slapped. He’d told no one about his little crush -- not even Erinys -- and he thought he’d been rather shrewd in all the instances where he’d gone out of his way to spend a little more time with Azelle. Surely it looked only like they were friends!
The sensible part of his mind quickly reminded him that with the frequency he waited in this hallway to speak to Azelle, it was only natural she’d assume that. She didn’t think he was soft for the redhead. That would be a ridiculous leap of logic, and Edain was more sensible than that.
“Uh… yeah,” he answered. “Seen him?”
Edain nodded. “Yes. He asked me if I would want his help later over lunch because he and his friends were planning on playing in the snow.”
That was disappointing. Lewyn wanted to be the one to show him the snow, and maybe watch whatever confusion a desert-dweller might have over its coldness and the way it melted. He’d already concocted a whole daydream where he’d wrap his arm around Azelle and smile fondly as he stuck his tongue out for glittering snowflakes.
He tried to recover quickly and coolly. “Oh, yeah? Are they in the courtyard?”
“I think they went out front. Something about… more snow gathering at the foot of the hill, I think.”
Well… that sounded like someone who knew something about snow. Another blow to Lewyn’s fantasy, but he wasn’t about to falter. He nodded slightly, distantly. “Alright. Thanks, Edain.”
He took a step to pass her and make his way out the front gate, but then stopped himself. Right now, it looked painfully clear that he was only looking for Azelle, and it potentially looked like he was crushing on him. He turned to look at Edain again.
“Since he’s not with you, I assume you don’t need any… help in the kitchen?”
Not that Lewyn would be a great help. Not that he even wanted to help. He only thought that in asking, it might look a little less like he was only seeking Azelle’s company.
She let out that little laugh again. At least it didn’t feel condescending. “That’s right. Thank you, though. Go enjoy the nice snow.”
“Yeah.” He tossed her a casual smile and began walking towards the castle’s entrance.
“And remember to bundle up!” she called. “It’s always colder than it looks!”
“Thanks, Edain!” he called back.
- - - - -
As he stepped out of the castle, he wondered if Azelle wasn’t bundled up in layers upon layers. If he wasn’t, it was likely he’d get cold -- he’d told Lewyn himself that he got cold easily, and Silesse was too chilly for him. It would be cute to see him bundled in a scarf, probably. And if he weren’t , and he got too cold, well, sharing body heat was simply the most effective way of staying warm.
Crusaders be good, Lewyn had it bad.
It was easy to pick out the three against the snow. Their bright hair colors stood out starkly, and there was no one else in the countryside for miles anyway.
Just as Edain had said, they were at the foot of the hill upon which Sailine sat. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but he watched Tailtiu throw a snowball at Azelle, and the redhead jumped to try and avoid it and let out a squealing laugh when it hit its mark anyway.
Maybe Lewyn wouldn’t get to witness Azelle’s introduction to snow, but that sound was a pretty good replacement. He found himself smiling, and decided that it wouldn’t give anything away if he approached the trio with it still on.
The closer he got, the easier it was to hear them. He caught the end of some sort of discussion.
“I’m just saying it’s not fair,” Azelle said. “If we can’t settle things, it’d just be whichever side Lex picks wins.”
“This blood feud can’t be settled in any other way but combat!” Tailtiu asserted. “You either prepare for battle, or you prepare to be annihilated!”
Azelle let out a light laugh.
It gave Lewyn an easy way to insert himself in the conversation at least. “What did he do to insult you so, my lady?” he asked.
“Lewyn!” Azelle grinned at him. Was Lewyn’s ears deceiving him, or did Azelle sound especially happy to see him? Fingers crossed, at least.
Lex let out some sort of strange laugh. “Ohohoho! It’s Lewyn, after all!”
He was always a bit incomprehensible to Lewyn, but he did his best to quip back appropriately. “It’s Lewyn, indeed.”
“Perfect!” Tailtiu enthused. “Your champion arrives, Azelle. Lex will defend me, and he can fight for your honor.”
“What!” Azelle quickly looked between her and Lewyn. His cheeks were rosy, but from the cold or something else, Lewyn couldn’t tell. “Maybe Lewyn wants to be your champion!”
Lewyn had less than half a clue what was going on here, but he was certain he’d rather be on whichever side was Azelle’s.
He didn’t have a chance to assert it himself. Tailtiu took over for him. “Nope! Nuh-uh! That’s your man, now!”
Lex folded his arms. “Good timing too,” he said. “I was just about to pick Tailtiu.”
“No way! What happened to the brotherly code!”
Lex shook his head, eyes closed. “You know this is better for you. I act only in your best interest… my brother…”
Yeah, Lewyn had not a single idea what was going on, but there were smiles all around, so he’d just act like he did.
“This is unfair!” Azelle protested. He was pulling at the scarf around his neck, trying to get it to cover more of his face.
“Yes,” Lewyn agreed. “Unfair because we have the terrain advantage now.” He winked for good measure. He’d told Azelle he was from Silesse before, anyway. Maybe Lex and Tailtiu were unaware, but it didn’t matter in the end to him.
“Oh,” Azelle said. He glanced once again from Lewyn to his friends, and then smiled. “Yeah, that’s right!”
“Then it’s settled,” Lex interjected. “Tailtiu and I will mercilessly pummel both of you into the snow, and you two will say thank you.”
“No way! Lewyn and I will mercilessly pelt you with snowballs until you both concede!”
Tailtiu stepped forward. “How long do we have to prepare defenses?”
Lewyn was catching on quickly. This was all about a snowball fight, and if growing up in Silesse had taught him anything it was how to make a snow fort. “Thirty minutes is more than enough for me,” he said. “But I understand if you might need more time…”
“Thirty minutes!” Lex repeated. “We’ll make it work.”
Lewyn glanced around. The snow was pushed up against the hill from the wind, meaning that they’d have more to work with if they chose a place closer to it than Lex and Tailtiu. He didn’t really have a stake in this little contest, but now that he was wrapped into it, it seemed like an easy way to impress Azelle, and he’d take that any day.
He determined which was the largest pile of untouched snow and pointed. “That’s where we make our stand, Azelle,” he said.
“Right!”
Lex and Tailtiu began searching for the best place for their fortress as well. They spoke to each other, but kept their voices low. It was like they were legitimately planning a strategy.
It didn’t matter to Lewyn. He actually had the monopoly on Azelle’s attention now, as far as he could see, which was exactly where he liked to be. “So… What started this little conflict?”
“Oh I have no idea,” Azelle said. He was smiling, despite it. “She just kinda decided to start a snowball fight and I’m down for it.”
“But with you, specifically. Not Lex.”
“Well yeah,” he continued, like it was obvious. “If we start fights with Lex, Lex is winning. He’s just too big to be conquered, and he doesn’t fight fair.”
There were a lot of things Lewyn didn’t entirely understand about the three’s friendship, but as long as Azelle seemed happy, he’d just support him. “Right. So… You’ve been in snowball fights before?”
Lewyn fell to his knees in the snow. He’d already perfected the snow fort in his childhood, he just had to remember the right way to do it. He set to work immediately, and didn’t even have to direct Azelle to help him. The other just knelt beside him and began helping Lewyn with packing the snow into a small wall.
“A few,” Azelle answered. “We didn’t get a lot of chances to do it all together, though, because Tailtiu wasn’t allowed to leave Friege as much as he or I could leave our homes. And, you know, it doesn’t snow in Velthomer.”
“But it snows where they’re from,” Lewyn completed.
“Yeah! The first time I saw it, I was like… Whoa. It’s kind of hard to imagine when you’ve never seen it before. I used to think it was like… cold sand, really.”
Lewyn grinned. “That’s cute.”
Azelle’s face turned more red. If Lewyn could smile wider at that point, he absolutely would have. “I guess…”
Their fortification seemed to be progressing nicely. Before long, they had a wall tall enough to sit behind, and wide enough that they could sit side by side together behind it. They chatted as they worked. They didn’t need to really exchange directions. Either they worked very nicely together (which was a nice thought, at least), or they both had enough experience making such a fort that they already knew what needed to be done.
Instead, they talked about the winter, and the winters they’d had in their respective pasts.
“You know, before you told me better, I thought it was just always snowy in Silesse,” Azelle said.
“I’m not surprised.” There were few things Silesse was better known for. “Nor am I insulted.”
He let out a small chuckle. Lewyn decided he had to make more jokes, more often.
“I didn’t realize just how much snow there could possibly be . This is so much! In Dozel, you’d have to get snow from the whole courtyard to make a wall like this, but there’s still so much around us.”
“This is a light snowfall, even,” Lewyn said. “You just wait until it’s trapping us inside the castle.”
“That’s not a thing!”
“It’s a thing.”
One of the first nights Azelle and Lewyn talked, Lewyn had been sitting on the roof of a castle in Augustria, and Azelle had brought him hot chocolate to stave off the chilly early summer night. Lewyn hadn’t felt cold at all, and had been surprised Azelle found it something worth making hot chocolate over.
How would the poor man fare during a snow-in? Lewyn could only imagine so far before his mind conjured images of them sharing a blanket, cuddled up in front of a fireplace with Azelle’s head on his shoulder, and Lewyn’s nose in Azelle’s hair. He wondered if he could engineer such a thing without making his feelings clear.
“You think we’re good?” Azelle asked.
Lewyn had to remind himself of their task before answering. His imagination was very good.
“Yeah, I think we’re good,” he replied, patting the edge of the wall. “We need ammunition.”
“I’m not really good at making snowballs,” Azelle said. “They always fall apart for me.”
“I can show you,” Lewyn offered.
“Well, Lex can do it fine, but every time he’s shown me I never figured it out.”
Lewyn’s imagination quickly supplied a more informative (and more romantic) way of demonstration. “Let me try anyway.”
“Alright.”
Azelle still had a cute little smile. He watched Lewyn’s hands scoop up the snow and put them in his hands. Azelle had thick mittens on, while Lewyn had forgotten to grab gloves. By now, his fingers were red and cold, but he could use a little wind magic to keep them from freezing uncomfortably.
Azelle looked up at him, questioning silently. Lewyn didn’t give him a verbal answer. It was easier to do these things without talking. He folded Azelle’s hands gently, one over the other, crushing the snow beneath them, and then continued to guide Azelle’s hands in making a snowball.
The redhead was staring intently at their hands, face red. Was it working?
“Let’s see it,” Lewyn said gently. “It is easier to make without gloves on.”
The snowball they’d made together seemed passable, however.
“I-I see… That one’s good…” Azelle murmured.
One of Lewyn’s hand was still cupping Azelle’s. He didn’t move it, so neither did Lewyn.
Suddenly, Azelle was looking up at Lewyn. “Aren’t your hands cold, though? You should have gloves on.”
Lewyn shrugged slightly. “I’m fine. I have a magic trick to keep them from freezing, anyway.” He winked again.
He considered the merits of inviting Azelle to warm Lewyn’s hands with his if he felt so strongly about it, but the words died in the back of his throat.
With Azelle’s free hand, he moved the snowball to a place near the wall, still keeping the other on top of Lewyn’s. Then, he turned it, and sandwiched Lewyn’s hand in between his mittens.
“I-If they get too cold, I can warm them up.”
He wasn’t kidding. Azelle had to have been using his own magic trick to suddenly heat Lewyn’s hand up. That was no excuse for the heat rising into his face, though. He quickly wracked his brain for something clever to say, and it was past his lips before he could consider if it would give away his crush or not.
“If you keep acting like that, a man might think you’re soft for him,” he said. It was mostly wishful thinking on his part. However, it seemed to have the desired effect. Azelle’s face was quickly mirroring the shade of his hair, and he stammered out a few syllables with no meaning before they heard a familiar sound.
At least, it was familiar to Lewyn. It was the sound of a snowball bursting against their constructed snow-fort.
Lex’s voice followed it. “Hey! Are you two making out back there?!”
Azelle made some sort of squeaking sound. It was very plausibly the cutest noise Lewyn had ever heard a human being make. He popped his head over the fort to shout Lex’s name painedly.
It would be in character for Lewyn to offer to actually make out, right? He considered the implications and outcomes. He was certain a Lewyn without a crush would make the same joke, as trashy as it was - as trashy as he was. It would only be in character. So he did.
“Hey,” he said, keeping his voice low. “You wanna make out?”
He purposely positioned a smirk on his face to make it look more facetious and less genuine than the question actually was.
Azelle made that sound again, so Lewyn considered it a success. He quickly covered his head and sunk down behind the fort.
“They were making out,” Lex informed Tailtiu, loudly. Lewyn didn’t know enough about Lex to be able to tell if he genuinely thought that or not, but he also didn’t care enough. If Azelle did, he was sure the redhead could speak for himself.
“They’re so embarrassing,” Azelle muttered for only Lewyn to hear.
He canted his head to one side, curiously. “Eh, I don’t think of you any differently for whatever they’re doing,” he said. It was completely true, even if Lex were saying something unrelated to making out, which Lewyn would have totally been down for had Azelle said yes.
Azelle had to lower his mittens in order to look at Lewyn again with wide eyes. His eyes were so beautiful - like fire trapped behind glass. They weren’t just red, they were almost alive themselves. A man (a man such as Lewyn) could easily get lost in them.
“Promise?” Azelle asked. Lewyn had to repeat it back in his head a few times to understand its whole meaning, so distracted he’d been by Azelle’s pretty eyes.
“On my honor,” he replied with a wink. It was a little dramatic, but he was trying to be subtle in his flirting.
Azelle sighed, then let out some sort of small laugh. Lewyn couldn’t help but smile, but he hoped it was at least handsome looking.
“You know…” Azelle started. He was looking away, face still pink. “This means we have to totally annihilate them now.”
It was Lewyn’s turn to let out a small laugh. Sweet little Azelle, always full of surprises. It was just another reason Lewyn found to like him. If he really was the goody-little-two-shoes every one else thought of him, Lewyn might have still been in love with him, but every other aspect to Azelle Velthomer just made the whole thing worse.
“You couldn’t have picked a better soldier, captain,” Lewyn playfully retorted. “Keep those snowballs coming and I’ll give them hell.”
Was he laying it on too thick with the amount he was winking? Azelle hadn’t said anything, so he decided to wink once again.
“Right!” Azelle replied. He immediately got to work crafting snowballs, and with each one he made, Lewyn chucked it carelessly towards Lex and Tailtiu. He didn’t need to aim, or even really look, because he could whisper a tiny spell into the wind and have it guide the snowball exactly where he wanted it.
It wasn’t cheating. Lex and Tailtiu already knew he was a wind mage. They just didn’t know he was the wind mage, with the holy blood and everything. Azelle couldn’t make snowballs fast enough for Lewyn to throw him (arguably, he had the easier job of the two), but both of them could easily hear their opponents’ disdain.
“We’re taking fire, Tal!” Lex shouted. “Evasive maneuvers!”
“No, Lex! Running away is the coward’s path!” Tailtiu protested, just as loudly. “We must make our stand, or risk dishonor!”
There was a pause. Lewyn had the impression they were trading words between each other at a lower volume, but they were too far away to eavesdrop.
“Women and children first!” Lex shouted suddenly. Almost at once, he was raised to his full height behind their snow fort, hoisting Tailtiu over his head, who was giggling madly.
“Oh no you don’t!” Azelle pointed at them. “Get them, Lewyn!”
“On it!”
Lewyn did his best to pelt them with as many snowballs as possible. With the way Lex ran, carrying Tailtiu over his head, many missed their mark, but many more hit true. He had to make his own in order to keep up with the rate at which he was throwing them, but Azelle still handed him plenty more.
When Lex was close to the castle, he set Tailtiu on her feet, and dramatically fell to the ground, entreating her to go on without him.
Azelle started giggling, too. The sound was enough itself to cause Lewyn to smile warmly. His mind quickly bade him to wrap an arm around the other and pull him close, but that was a bit more forward and less subtle than Lewyn was planning. Instead, he hooked his arm around the back of their fort. It was nearly the same… Just much colder.
It took a good moment for Azelle to calm himself, but Lewyn didn’t mind waiting. The redhead sank down again, almost leaning closer to Lewyn. The slight movement wasn’t lost on him, but he also couldn’t help but wonder if he was overthinking.
Azelle looked up at him, still smiling gently. Lewyn’s chest tightened. He wanted more of that, maybe every day, maybe waking up to it.
He was getting much too far ahead of himself.
“That was fun,” Azelle sighed. “Sorry if they made it weird.”
Azelle’s penchant for apologizing was made all the stranger with the smile and tone it was delivered with.
“What, the making out thing?” Lewyn’s mind was still stuck on it, but not for the reason Azelle seemed to think. “I made a genuine offer, you know. It won’t annoy them now , but it doesn’t expire either.”
Azelle blushed again. “I-it’s okay, I mean… Well, no, you just said it was genuine but… It’s still a joke, right? Like you wouldn’t… w-wouldn’t actually make out with me.”
That was a strange question to ask, Lewyn thought. He just said it was genuine, which was as close as he was prepared to admit he would actually make out with Azelle. He could feel his own face heating up. He was getting dangerously close to admitting his crush now, but he had to take as much ground as Azelle gave him.
“No,” he said. “I would.”
Azelle’s eyes went wide again. He covered the lower half of his face with his mittens. It might have been romantic to peel his hands away gently, but Lewyn shooed away the thought.
“Ugh.” Azelle averted his gaze. “Sorry. I… I told my friends I have a crush on you, so they were acting that way because… They’re trying to help I guess?”
Wait. Azelle had a crush on Lewyn? And he was saying it first? Just outright? No hesitation? No cute little stutter? He just…
“I… I like having you as a friend, and I don’t want to scare you away. I-I’m even kinda used to being dumped at this point, so… It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way.” He finished his statement with a sad little laugh, pulling his hands from his face and wrapping them around himself. He shifted, to create more distance between him and Lewyn.
“You’re kidding,” Lewyn said.
Azelle looked up at him innocently, almost confused. “Pardon?”
“Here I am trying to be cool and you just… said it.” Lewyn sighed. “I like you, too, Azelle. Why do you think I would make out with you, otherwise?”
Azelle covered the bottom half of his face. “I! I don’t know!” He was quickly turning redder and redder.
Lewyn felt his own face heating up, too. He could have been as red as Azelle at this point. At least then they’d match. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to… kiss you and seal the deal if you’re covering your face like that.”
Azelle pulled his hands away slowly, revealing a brilliant smile that was blinding even with the snow reflecting sunlight all around them. Lewyn could barely bring himself to lean in to kiss him even then -- it would just take away such a beautiful grin.
Lewyn considered it lucky then that Azelle shifted first, better turning to face Lewyn, and also closing the small distance between them. Now, he could feel Azelle’s warm breath on his face as the other exhaled. Azelle could likely feel his as well.
The script Lewyn plotted out in his head directed Azelle to shyly look away then, and murmur permission for Lewyn to kiss him. Then, Lewyn would do so, and it would be gentle and sweet. Were this a play and not real life, music might swell behind them, showing how true and pure young love could really be. They’d part, and Azelle would likely apologize, saying it was his first kiss and he hoped it didn’t disappoint Lewyn. Of course, it couldn’t disappoint Lewyn, because any kiss he got from Azelle would be warm and gentle, and he’d likely taste of cinnamon or hot chocolate.
That was not how it went in real life. Before Lewyn was fully aware of it, Azelle was moving in to kiss him . It was every bit as gentle and soft as Lewyn had imagined, but Azelle pulled away and stared up at him expectantly. He offered no apology, but he did smile, and that was even better.
“T-too bold?” Azelle asked. Lewyn had the impression that even if he’d have said yes, Azelle might not be too bothered.
“Not at all,” he answered. He kept the rest to himself; that Azelle was cute when he was a little bold, or that Azelle’s boldness was just another aspect to him that made Lewyn want to know all the more about him.
“But you must be cold,” he said instead. “We could head inside… Get some hot cocoa, share a blanket?”
“I’d… like that a lot,” Azelle replied. “If that’s not too… much, that is. Uhm… I always figured you’d had more relationships than I have, so…”
Did that mean he’d actually had relationships in the past? Another surprise from Azelle. Lewyn had half a mind to ask, but talking about ex-s did not a good first date make. ...Playing in the snow, and making a snow fort did make a good first date.
Azelle was the first to his feet. He bounced up as though spring-loaded, and extended a hand to Lewyn, smiling amiably down at him. Lewyn’s heart skipped a beat (it was a bit pathetic, but it was easy to hide). He took Azelle’s hand and let the fire mage help him to his feet.
He was the first to loop his arm around Azelle’s waist though, and he marveled at the way it made Azelle’s smile all the wider.
“Too bold?” he asked, half-joking.
“Not at all,” Azelle quipped back. He quickly pulled Lewyn into a tight hug. When they pulled away, he was staring at Lewyn intently, but the bard had no way of discerning what Azelle was thinking without him saying it outright. Perhaps in another stroke of luck, he did. “You’re… tall.”
“I get that a lot,” he joked.
“I’ll simply… have to ask,” Azelle decided.
“Ask?”
“To put a kiss on your cheek. Or… Something.”
Oh. Bold indeed. Smirking, Lewyn bowed his head enough to put it in proper cheek-kissing range, and Azelle obliged.
“I am cold,” he said. “So let’s not spend any more time out here, okay?”
“As you wish.”
Without any more distractions, the two made their way inside. Lewyn kept an arm around Azelle the whole time. He’d have expected the other to get embarrassed, or ask Lewyn not to be so affectionate when there was someone else around to see them. That was not the case. It was almost as if, while Azelle took Lewyn to where he knew he could get a warm blanket, or lead him into the kitchen to make the hot chocolate for them himself, Azelle only had eyes for Lewyn.
Eventually they were settled flush against each other in a large chair clearly not designed for two people, but big enough to hold them anyway. Azelle, even still sporting that pink on his cheeks, was smiling contentedly, confirming that he didn’t mind being so squished together. It didn’t match the cute fjalar-blooded mage that Lewyn had presumed of him, but it made the moment all the better.
And it was very easy for Lewyn to conclude that he was right where he wanted to be.