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“I promise you, somebody is going to get kicked in the shin if you don’t turn back right now-“
“That may be a little difficult in your current... condition.”
Shit.
Norton was, unfortunately, correct in his keen observation. At this present moment in time, the acrobat was firmly strapped down, arms and legs bound with the tight knotting of rope. He could almost feel the slight burn of the said object itself, almost digging into his limbs painfully. The hunter, none other than the game keeper to be exact, was in a rather testing mood once he had finally caught up to him. Being the great acrobat he is, Mike Morton was rather... adequate in slipping past him. Keeping out of arms-length and missing repeatedly from the jaw-gapping flashes of his chain. But, one could only evade the hunter for so long until they eventually met their supper.
Which then led to the current position of the acrobat himself.
Down in the cellar, Mike was now making eye contact with his soon-to-be-rescuer, so it happens. Norton - the dashing fool - had just this moment rounded the corner, having rushed down the stairs in a apparent hurry it would appear. The moment that Mike had heard the echoing howls of footsteps clapping upon the stairwell - too light to be the hunter - he had called out to them, urging them to turn back with his own unique way of speech. By the gods, he would not risk his teammates to be tempted by the same fate that he had found himself in. One survivor restrained was okay, but for any more to go down? It wasn’t worth the rescue if the others could escape and assure a smooth win.
But it wasn’t to be, because of course it was Norton. Not for the life of him, there was no way he would turn back now and leave him behind.
Kind of touching, actually.
Back to the present, Norton was hurrying towards him. He was quick to bend to the knee, immediately working on untying the knots of rope that restrained the acrobat’s legs to the chair. While he did so, the acrobat couldn’t help but anxiously cast glances towards the stairwell, expecting the presence of the hunter to reveal himself at any given moment in time - it was making him rather jittery. He wasn’t prepared to see Norton go down also-
“Stop twitching! You’re not making this any easier, you know?” Mike was scolded, the man beneath him casting a quick, warning glance up towards him, one brow raised for good measure before reassuming his current objective of untying the acrobat.
“Sorry, it’s not like the Gamekeeper might show up any moment and pin us both down, right?” the acrobat jabbed sarcastically back at him, rolling his azure optics slightly as he continued to watch the stairwell - although he did put a bit of an effort to stay still while the prospector worked at the knots that bounded him.
“Don’t worry about him - Fiona has him playing cat and mouse, which gives us plenty of time.” Norton responded, this time not pausing in what he was doing. Although this did little to reassure Mike, he did smirk slightly in astonishment - what a wasted opportunity, but he couldn’t say that he didn’t appreciate it.
“You all could of been far gone by now - why do this? It’s a solid win. Honestly, I don’t see the point-
“And leave you here? You think lowly of yourself.” Norton had the audacity to scoff, interrupting him as if he heard something rather shocking to the ear - at that precise moment, he even managed to untie the last knot that bounded the acrobats legs down. With a gentle rise to his feet, the man was quick to begin untying the knots that were bound around Mike’s torso, keeping him bound to the chair. Although as he did so, the dark-haired man had his chestnut gaze focussed elsewhere. Instead of watching what he was doing, he was doing a pretty good job at stalling the acrobats heartbeat, his dark gaze not once swaying away from the acrobats own blue optics, trapping him in a line of sight as their eyes danced with each other.
“I wouldn’t leave you behind, Mike.”
You-
For a few heartbeats in time, Mike was speechless- and by the lords above, Mike was wishing that the ground would actually swallow him up (literally, it would of done if he had been left behind-) right now!
How does somebody say that with a serious air to them? If it was anyone else, Mike would of laughed and called them out for being cheesy, but when it was no other than this charming gentleman before him... well, don’t let it be said that the quiet one’s couldn’t be endearing.
“...Maybe this little diversion isn’t too much of a risk then.” once the acrobat’s head felt clear enough to convey a structured sentence that wouldn’t make him sound like a blushing damsel, he felt that he could calmly answer the disheveled miner before him, his dark tendrils of hair shadowing above his eyes - and what beautiful eyes that face of his held.
With a small smile, - sweet heavens - the man untied the last knot that kept the acrobat down, freeing him from his chains of holding. Mike was still rooted to his chair though, refusing to break their locked gazes - not until a scarred hand reached outwards, calluses evident on the peached skin. A sign of years of hard work with heavy equipment, hard strains of the hand from a life that was before the mansion and this pit of games. A life that... that perhaps he would like to know a little bit more about if he got the chance.
“Let’s get out of here, Mike. All of us.”
And after those honeyed words left the dry lips of the man before him, he also reached out - soft, nimble hands touching that of what was offered to him.