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Knock Knock Knock. There was no pausing as the Ranger continued to furiously pound on his cabin door. The Ranger held a small body in his arms as he tried to get his boyfriend to open the goddamn door and help him.
When the door finally opened to reveal Gilan’s boyfriend, Lewis started going off with his eyes closed in tiredness, “The Ranger is not available right now. He’s on a mission. And yes I am his boyfrie-” Lewis finally opened his eyes to see who he was addressing and realized, it’s his boyfriend and a small… man? Boy? His eyes began to widen as he realized what had possibly happened.
“What the hell did you do this time Gilan?” Lewis began in an exasperated tone. “It was one mission with your younger brother, and you let him get stabbed!”
Gilan could tell that Lewis was disappointed in his protection skills as he gestured for Gilan to bring Will inside. Gilan felt as though he needed to defend himself, as Lewis seemed to think it was his fault Will got stabbed. “He didn’t even give me a chance to stop him. He looked at me, nodded, and then jumped off the tree into the masses of bandits below us!”
“Yeah sure.” Lewis started to go collect his medical supplies as Will was laid down on the cot for medical emergencies. Lewis came back and started removing the fabric around the wound so he could stitch it up. There was no talking during this part besides a moment for Gilan to tell Lewis to not use the warm-weed salve as it triggers Will’s panic attacks. Lewis was understanding and went to see if he had a warm-weed free salve but realized he didn’t so he sent Gilan to go retrieve it from Will’s bags. Gilan brought the salve back inside and started pacing in the room.
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Lewis had been fixing Will up for the past twenty minutes and his boyfriend had been pacing for half of that, it was starting to get on his nerves. “I swear Gilan! Stop pacing for a second and breathe.” Gilan stopped pacing and took a deep breath. “Now Gilan, I am assuming that with the obnoxious knocking that you made, and the amount of time it took you to get the salve, you didn’t bed down the horses.” Gilan looked guilty as he realized he indeed did not settle down the horses because he was afraid for Will.
“I’ll go brush down the horses and get them settled in the stable.” Gilan started walking towards the front door when he heard his boyfriend mutter, “Thank Gorlog he’s gone.” Gilan stared, more of glared, at his boyfriend as he continued out the door. Since he was walking backward, he forgot that he needed to duck under the patio and smacked his head into the roof.
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Lewis could feel his boyfriend’s glare as he left to tend to the horses. When he heard the thunk of a head hitting wood and a muffled curse, he couldn’t hold back a snicker at his boyfriend’s predicament. Even the muffled “Shut up” he heard from the stables couldn’t put a damper on his snickers. However, the man? Boy? In front of him with a stab wound in his abdomen could. Lewis finished the stitches on the wound and started to place a bandage around the wound. He was slightly worried because Will hadn’t stirred during the cleaning and bandaging of the wound at all. Normally the patients would grimace at the pain of the wound while cleaning it, but Will didn’t even stir.
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When Gilan finally came back in from the stables, Lewis was cleaning up. Will was still unconscious and lying on the cot with a stark white bandage around his middle. Gilan could see that some of the bandages were starting to turn red with his blood. Will looked so pale lying on the cot. Gilan wanted to start pacing again but realized that Lewis would kick him out again if he did.
Lewis spoke up from the other side of the room as he continued scrubbing his hands, “Have you turned the bandits in yet?”
“Unfortunately,” this one word was drawn out as Gilan tried to find the words to describe what happened, “they all were perished by the time I had finished patching up Will.”
Lewis turned around to study his boyfriend’s face and realized, he didn’t look all that upset about the deaths of the bandits. Lewis dried off his hands and started walking towards his boyfriend, “Do you need a hug? Or a kiss?”
Gilan looked down upon his boyfriend and let a sad smile break out his face. He lifted his hands out for a hug and Lewis complied. With his forehead on Lewis’s shoulder, he started worrying, “What happens if he doesn’t trust me to keep him safe anymore?” A small sob broke out of his mouth, “What happens if he dies from an infection or something?”
Lewis pulled out from the embrace and made Gilan look at him. Gilan had small tears running down his face as he thought about what could happen. “First of all, I think I am the best healer there is in this area, and I won’t let your brother die from an infection. Second of all, I bet you that he is still going to trust you just as much as he did before, and love you because you did your best to take care of him.”
Gilan looked away as processed what Lewis had just said. Then started going pale as he turned back to Lewis and whispered, “Halt is going to kill me.” Lewis snorted as he went on his tippy toes to kiss his disastrous boyfriend.
“I doubt he’ll kill you. Maybe brutally injure, but kill? Never.” Lewis looked at Will, then looked at his boyfriend, “You have to remember that you are just as much of a son to Halt as Will is.”
Gilan looked back at his boyfriend and smiled. He was about to kiss Lewis again as a groan sounded from the cot Will was situated in. Lewis hurried over there to help Will. Gilan held back because he was afraid Will wouldn’t want to see him. As Will came more into the world of the living and not the unconsciousness he started to look around him. He was startled that he wasn’t somewhere he recognized, and he didn’t recognize the man attending to him. Will scrambled backward, straining his stitches, and startling the two other men in the room with him.
“Who are you?” Will’s high pitched voice caused Gilan to start snickering. Will started looking around for the source of the noise and when he found it, he started glaring. “So Gilan, mind to tell me why you’re snickering?” Gilan’s snickering abruptly stopped as he registered that Will realized it was him. Gilan slowly started freaking out inside as Will continued his train of thought, “I’m assuming that since Gilan’s over there, this house resembles a ranger cabin and that Gilan’s sword-cleaning equipment is by the fireplace, this is the distinguished Lewis that you smuggled from the Middle Kingdoms into Araluen.” Lewis started laughing as Will continued to stare at the rapidly reddening man in the corner.
“How- why- have you never been in my cabin?”
“Yes. I am currently inside your cabin.” Will’s glare diminished a bit as he started to look around again. “I am slightly confused as to how you and Lewis ended up together. I think that Lewis deserves someone better than you, but that might just be my personal preference.”
Will started smirking as Gilan floundered about for words to insult him back, “How can you possibly be injured and still be this annoying?”
Will didn’t even pause to think about his comeback, “It’s just my natural state, ya know. When you talk about Lewis so much, I have lots of time to think of things to annoy you with.” Gilan’s already red features became a smidgen redder. Just enough for Lewis and Will to start laughing at him.
“You must talk about me a lot then.” Will and Lewis’s laughs were renewed both with that comeback and the fact that Gilan is just spluttering.
“Screw you guys, I’m out.” Gilan started heading out when he heard Lewis say something to him, “Don’t hit your head on the porch while you leave honey.” The snickers were once again renewed at that comment. Gilan had to retreat before his dignity could take more hits. But what he wouldn’t know is that his boyfriend and brother would start gossiping about him.
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“So you know,” Will began, “I have been wanting to meet you because Gilan talks about you soooo much. I just wish that I hadn’t needed to be stabbed to finally meet you.” They made eye contact. Will’s eyes started sparkling because he realized that they could swap stories about Gilan. Since they realized that, they started swapping stories until Will fell asleep. Gilan arrived shortly after so he could spend time with his boyfriend. They sat down on the couch and stared into the fireplace with each other. Little did they know that Will was faking sleep so he could eavesdrop on them.
“What were you guys talking about?” Gilan started suspiciously, knowing that Will and Lewis would have been talking about him.
“Nothing much. Just you know, you and your mishaps.”
“Great-” Gilan’s sarcastic remark was cut off by Lewis kissing him. Will had to ruin the moment by inserting himself into the conversation. “That’s gross.” Gilan and Lewis sprang apart and they were confused as to who spoke. Gilan had been looking around and realized the cot, in which Will had been residing in, was empty. They found him when he stepped out of the shadows and plopped onto the couch.
“Well excuse me, tiny thing that’s called a person, I’m sorry but I’m overly stressed because Halt is going to kill me!”
“He wouldn’t kill your tall beanstalk ass because he loves you. Me on the other hand, as the one who got themselves stabbed, is more at risk at being stabbed again than you dying by the hand of Halt.” Lewis was watching the back and forth comments about whos going to die because of Halt when he realized that he had no idea about what had happened on the mission.
Lewis interrupted Gilan to ask, “What did you guys do on the mission?”
Will looked to Lewis, “Long story short, we tracked-”
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They were ghosting through the trees, heading towards the smell of smoke and food. They decided to split up to get on either side of the campsite. They had already discussed what they were going to do in advance, so they wouldn’t be given away from the whispering that would’ve resulted. They each climbed their trees so they could get a headcount and make the bandits surrender. Will surveyed the bandit camp and looked up at Gilan. Will nodded towards Gilan and jumped to the ground. If Will had been looking at Gilan, he would’ve seen the quick shake of his head or the wide eyes as he saw what Will would be facing, or even the face smack as he realized he wouldn't have been able to stop him.
On the ground, Will began the customary speech about how they were rangers and to put down their weapons. However, one of the men behind him started creeping towards Will’s exposed back. Gilan quickly let go a shot but he was too slow, Will had already been hit. What happened after that was a bloodbath, all the criminals had perished, and Gilan started doing a quick field dressing that would hold Will off until he got to a healer. Will was already unconscious so Gilan didn’t have to talk while he bandaged him up and got him to his boyfriend.
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“-and then we arrived here!” Will finished with a smile, then a grimace appeared because he is still injured. Gilan looked miffed, as though he was angry he didn’t get to tell the story. Lewis just looked shocked. Will continued, “Ah man, we are going to have to write up what happened. I bet Crowley’s going to enjoy getting this report.” Will looked dejected.
“We are also going to have to explain to Halt what happened, ya know.” Will looked at Gilan when he spoke those words and they both paled a lot.
“Well, I’m going to bed for real now see you tomorrow when we inevitably have to go explain these circumstances to Halt!” With a smile, he was gone. Lewis didn’t even get a chance to say good night.
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Literally 5 Months Later - Gathering
Will saw Gilan at the crossroads where they always meet each other. They greeted each other and started to head towards the Gathering Grounds.
"So Gilan, how are your ribs feeling?" Gilan glanced suspiciously at Will, trying to see why he's asking. All he saw was a worried face asking about his wellbeing. He began to answer when he realized, nobody knew about his rib injury, other than Lewis and Crowley . He began to wonder who told Will, while squinting at him. Will was about to ask the question again because the silence crept on for a little too long.
He didn't get a chance because he was interrupted by Gilan, "Who told you? It was Lewis wasn't it? Goddamnit. I saw him writing and receiving those letters. I should've known it was you."
"If you must know, yes it was Lewis. We've become pen pals." There was a pause while Will tried to figure out a way to soften the blow Gilan was about to get. "We pen pal each other about your antics so we have teasing materials."
They were basically in the Gathering grounds when Gilan shouted, "Will is a gossiper!"
Will shouted back, "Only to your boyfriend I am!" His smug look registered within Gilan's brain a moment too late. "Hello Crowley. Lovely day out isn't it?" Will continued to smile, knowing he outsmarted Gilan's outsmarting.
"It's a beautiful day out. Almost as beautiful as learning that not all of us are going to be old and lonely." Crowley smiled at Gilan. "Who's your boyfriend Gilan ?"
Gilan looked away as Will started to answer, "His names Lewis and he's from the Middle Kingdoms. Gilan smuggled him into Araluen and has housed him in his cabin. I just got to meet him like five months ago because I got injured and Lewis is a medic." Gilan tried to stop Will but Will just plowed right through his protests. Will smiled at Gilan and started to lead his horse away, leaving Gilan to the wolves.
Gilan shouted at Will's back, "What about your boyfriend, huh? How's Horace doing?" Will flipped off Gilan as Crowley said that he had already met Horace. Gilan tried to throw Will under the bus with him but through supreme luck, Gilan was the only one staying with the wolves.