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Awsten was out. He didn't really know how, but he was finally out.
"Shit! Awsten, dude, run!"
Well, almost out. The joy Awsten felt from finally getting past the gigantic metallic dome that kept him prisoner for his entire life was stifled by the sounds of gunfire and the feeling of a bullet barely missing his ear. Otto was running beside him, his long hair tied up in a bun to keep it out of his face so he could see where he was going in the midnight darkness. He looked good with his hair in a bun, and Awsten thought that he should wear it up like that more.
Why was he thinking about Otto's hair while he was running for his life?
"We just need to reach that thing, and then they won't be able to see us!" Otto yelled. Awsten didn't bother giving him a response, choosing to pour on the speed instead of wasting breath answering. They were crossing a large swath of grassy land, which ended in a row of large and looming plants. With each step, the line of plants was getting closer and closer, and Awsten could practically taste the safety they would provide. Just a bit farther, and they could--
More gunfire reached Awsten's ears a second before something hit his abdomen from behind. He yelled, dropping to the ground like a rock while Otto screamed his name somewhere ahead of him. He landed on his back, eyes screwed shut in pain, and his groans blocked out the ongoing gunfire in the background. Suddenly there were hands on his arm. Awsten was worried that the guards chasing them had already caught up to them, but it was just Otto, trying to haul him to his feet.
"Just go! Get out of here!" Awsten yelled at his friend. "I'm only gonna slow you down!"
"No way, dude. If you die, I'm not gonna let it be back there," Otto replied.
Otto lifted Awsten onto his feet, and that was when Awsten's body decided to pass the fuck out.
Awsten had never seen stars before. His grandmother used to tell him stories she had heard from her mother, who had heard them from her grandfather, who had actually been alive to see the stars before the Dome was built. No matter how she described it, nothing Awsten's imagination had conjured up in his early years could compare to the sight of a million twinkling little lights hanging above his head when he woke up again. He blinked, trying to get his eyes to focus so he could see what the hell he was looking at. The plants that surrounded them had large leaves that blocked most of the sky, but above Awsten's head they had cleared a large circle so Awsten could see the lights clearly.
"Beautiful, right?"
That was Otto's voice. Awsten turned his head to see his best friend curled up on the ground next to him. He looked unharmed, which Awsten was grateful for. He could feel the warmth of Otto's body leeching into his skin because of how close they were, and he shuffled closer to try and chase out the cold that had settled in his bones.
"Yeah, they're gorgeous."
"I wonder what they are."
"I think they're stars," Awsten responded. "My grandma used to tell me about them. They were balls of fire, she said, existing a million miles away from Earth, and that they lit up the night sky next to the moon."
"What's the moon?"
"I think it's that giant glowing thing, right there." Awsten reached up and pointed at the giant ball of light, smack dab in the middle of the swath of stars.
"It's like... a giant light," Otto said.
"Yeah."
Neither of them said anything else, too busy admiring the stars and the moon until eventually Awsten dozed back into sleep. The next time he woke up was because something brighter than the light of the moon was shining in his eyes. He blinked awake to see that something far brighter and far more intense than the moon was starting to rise into the sky, and its light was hitting Awsten at just the right angle to wake him up.
"What the fuck is that thing?" he groaned.
"What, you haven't seen the sun before?" someone else asked. Awsten shot up off of the ground at the sound of a stranger's voice, and immediately regretted it as he instantly fell back down.
"Whoa, whoa, take it easy. You're hurt; I healed you up, but you still shouldn't be moving around so much," the stranger cautioned. As soon as Awsten's eyes stopped showing him nothing but blinding white with black spots, he saw that there was another human sitting across a small pile of... something. The pile looked like it was composed of tiny part of the giant plants that surrounded them. He wasn't sure what it was for, but he would be more comfortable if this stranger stayed on the other side of it.
"Who are you?" Awsten asked.
"I'm Patty. Nice to meet you when you're finally awake," the stranger said. Patty smiled at him, and Awsten, even though he had never met this man in his life, felt the distrust in his belly melting away at the warmth of his smile. However, that didn't mean it was entirely gone, so Awsten inched himself back in order to add more distance between them.
Patty was a strange looking thing. His hair was a shocking black, and his eyes were a blue that Awsten couldn't look away from. Nobody had black hair or blue eyes in the Dome (except for Awsten himself, who had one blue eye and one green eye, a feature that was the reason for why Otto was his only friend), and Awsten was intrigued. His body language spoke of familiarity and easiness, his skinny limbs spread out all around him. He wasn't poised to run or hide at a moment's notice, and he obviously had never experienced punishment for literally stepping out of line.
He also had pointed ears. It took Awsten's brain a minute to register the abnormal feature, but when it did he couldn't stop himself from staring at Patty's ears. They looked just like regular human ears, although there were large holes in each of his earlobes, but the top tapered into a wide angle rather than rounding out. When Patty caught him staring, he raised an eyebrow, and his smile vanished.
"Are you going to tell me who you are?"
"I'm Awsten."
"Well, Awsten, what are you and your friend doing out here?"
At the mention of the word "friend", Awsten's brain broke itself out of the last remaining remnants of sleep to remind him that Otto did, indeed, exist, and that he was currently missing.
"Where is he? Otto, my friend, where did-"
"Relax! Holy shit, calm down, he's fine! He had to go take a piss, and he left just before you woke up. He said he'll be back soon," Patty said. Awsten did indeed calm down a bit, but he didn't fully relax until Otto came stumbling out between two of the strange plants.
"Oh, good, you're back," Patty said. "Now, can one or both of you please tell me what the hell you're doing in my forest?"
"Your what?"
"My forest? The thing we're currently sitting in? You crashed right into it last night, and when I came to investigate I found the two of you hiding from guys with guns. So, as payment for my protection, tell me what's going on."
"Protection? What protection?" Otto asked.
"I drove them away. I made sure they got thoroughly lost, and eventually they turned around and left. You're welcome, by the way."
"Thanks, I guess... What do you mean, though? How did you make them get lost?"
"You guys really aren't from around here, are you?"
Otto and Awsten both shook their heads, and Patty groaned.
"Okay, well, I should properly introduce myself then. My name is Patrick Walters, and I'm the dryad of this forest. I take care of these trees, and they in turn nourish my spirit. I make sure nothing threatens our safety and wellbeing, and I'm trying to make sure you two aren't a threat."
"What's a dryad?" Awsten asked, the same time Otto asked "What's a tree?"
"What... the fuck... Have you guys just been living under a gods-damned rock the entire time?" Patty asked.
"No, we just..."
"We're from the Dome," Awsten suppled after Otto's sentence trailed off. This seemed to catch Patty's interest, because he leaned forward as far as he could with his hands on his knees.
"The Dome? You mean that weird metal building out that way?"
He pointed in a direction, but Awsten couldn't tell which one it was because he literally could not see past the wall of plants.
"I guess so?"
"Oh, man, nobody ever gets out of there! How did you guys escape?"
"We waited until lights out, and then we just... ran. We had snagged a guard's keys earlier that day and we used it to open the doors to the barracks, and by the time they had noticed that something was wrong we had already made it to the gates. They started shooting at us once we got out, though, and then Awsten got shot, and..."
"Wow. That's literally the stupidest plan I've heard, but it's not stupid if it works, and it obviously worked," Patty muttered. He sat and thought about something for a few moments, but soon his bright smile returned and he leaned back again. "Alright, so, since you guys know pretty much nothing, feel free to ask me as many questions as you want and I'll try my best to explain."
This was how Awsten found himself sitting on the ground asking Patty questions about everything he saw and didn't know about. He found out that the plants they were surrounded by were called trees, and that a group of trees had different names, but this specific kind of group was called a forest. A dryad was a magical creature who lived inside of trees (which Patty demonstrated for them, much to Awsten's delight), and magic was... Awsten didn't quite grasp the concept of magic, but it made Patty disappear into trees and apparently did a lot of other things that Awsten thought impossible, so he thought it was cool anyway. The brown stuff on the ground was called dirt, the little green plants underneath their feet was called grass, and the bright ball of fire in the middle of the sky was called the sun. The Earth was a huge planet, and it wasn't destroyed like how the teachers in the Dome had described.
"They said it was all burned up and unlivable, and that was why we were stuck in the Dome," Awsten clarified.
"Does this look burned up and unlivable to you?" Patty responded.
"I guess not."
"Alright, no more questions," Patty said. He stood up and stretched, and then he looked back at Otto and Awsten. "As entertaining as you guys are, you can't stay here forever. I can keep confusing the people who come after you if I see them, but I won't always be here to protect you, and I think you'd be safer further away from that weird place. So, follow me."
"Where are we going?" Otto asked.
"To town, duh. Where else would we go?"
"What's a town?"
"It's where people live. There's one not far from the other side of the forest, so it shouldn't take us that long."
"But this forest is huge."
"Yeah, and? Let's get a move on."
Patty started walking away, without waiting for either of them to agree to anything. Awsten scrambled off of the ground and walked carefully after the dryad, Otto right on his heels. They walked for about a minute, but soon the edge of the forest was upon them. There was a beaten path that led towards a small cluster of buildings in the distance that Awsten could only assume was the town Patty had mentioned earlier. On either side of the path were large stretches of grass that seemed to have no end.
"How-"
"This is my forest. If I want to bend the laws of time and space here, I can," Patty answered. His answer, though, just raised more questions, and while they walked down the path Awsten asked as many of those questions as he could get away with asking. Patty, despite his declaration of "no more questions" earlier, seemed content to answer them for Awsten. By the time they had approached the town, Awsten's curiosity had been momentarily satisfied.
The town was busy when they arrived. People were bustling about, crossing the giant, wide path that ran through the middle of the town and going in and out of buildings. Several people stopped to say hi to Patty, and he cheerfully greeted every single one of them.
"How do you know this many people?" Otto asked.
"I get around," was Patty's only response. He led the two of them into a building that was taller than the rest, with a sign that only said "INN". Awsten didn't know what an inn was, but he figured he would find out soon, since Patty had already gone inside.
Inside of the inn, there was a large room filled with several tables surrounded by people. There was a counter with a single person behind it, serving drinks and food to people. It was loud and darkly-lit. Awsten didn't like it very much, but thankfully Patty didn't linger and they weren't forced to stay in the room for very long.
Patty went straight for a set of stairs in the corner of the room which led up to a hallway of doors. The dryad didn't pause, and when they reached the door that had a large 9 on it he knocked. After a few seconds the door opened, and a very tired-looking man stood on the other side. He was wearing a very large white shirt that had the top three or four buttons undone, and the shirt was tucked into a pair of comfortable-looking black pants. Both articles of clothing were wrinkled beyond belief; Awsten guessed that he had been sleeping in them.
"Patty, hey. What brings you here?" the man said softly. He yawned after speaking and ran a hand through his messed-up brown hair.
"Geoff, dude, it's good to see you again. Were you sleeping?"
"Yeah. I won't be able to leave until tonight, so I was trying to fix my sleep schedule. What are you doing here, though?"
"Oh, right. Uh, can we come in? We need to talk," Patty said.
"We?" It seemed like Geoff had just noticed that Awsten and Otto were there, and he raised an eyebrow when he saw the two.
"Long story. I'll explain soon," Patty said. He gently pushed past Geoff, leading Awsten and Otto into the room. Geoff made a few vocal protests, but he didn't throw them out, so Awsten assumed he wasn't actually too mad.
"Can you explain now, please? Not 'soon'," Geoff sighed.
"So, this is Awsten, and this is Otto. They escaped from that dome thing— that weird building on the other side of my forest, remember?— and they were being shot at by weird dudes in weird suits. I've been hiding them with me for a few hours, but they can't stay with me forever, so I was wondering if you would take them with you when you went back to the North? They don't have to join your crew or anything, but I think the farther away they can get from that place the better, so you'd just have to get them to Landry and then you could go your separate ways."
"That's... a lot to process," Geoff admitted. He turned to look at Awsten and Otto, giving them a once-over as they stood there in their grey t-shirts and sweatpants.
"Can you guys be packed and ready to go by tonight?" he asked after a while.
"We don't have anything. We're ready to go now," Otto answered. Geoff paused, a look of pity and confusion crossing his face.
"You guys don't have anything? At all? Like, no possessions whatsoever?"
"We weren't allowed personal property in the Dome," Awsten explained.
"Didn't you take some food and water with you, though?"
Awsten and Otto both shook their heads, and Geoff's pity-frown only deepened.
"Okay, uh... Geoff, what time are you gonna leave here?" Patty asked.
"Uh, probably around dusk," Geoff answered.
"Perfect. They'll be ready to go by then." Patty directed Awsten and Otto out of Geoff's room before waving to Geoff and closing the room door. Patty walked down the stairs and out of the inn, and Awsten struggled to keep up with him if he was being honest.
"Where are we going now?" Otto asked.
"We're going to go buy you provisions that will last you until the next town. I also think we need to buy you some food to eat now, because I don't think I've seen either of you eat since last night," Patty answered. He stopped in the middle of the path and looked around, eventually deciding where he was going and starting to walk again.
The next hour or so consisted of a never-ending blur of shops. Patty would take them one place, buy something from there with metallic little circles from his pocket, and then move on to the shop next to it. Patty's supply of metal never seemed to run out, and by the time they were done Awsten felt that they had way too much stuff.
"I wish I could get you guys some knives or something, but I think you'd just end up injuring yourselves, so let Geoff handle the weapons, alright?" Patty said after they were done and were making their way back to the inn. They made their way through the crowd of people in the downstairs portion and went back up to Geoff's room. When he answered their knock this time, however, he looked much more put together. He still wore the same shirt and pants, but he had put on a pair of nice-looking boots and a fancy hat with a large feather sticking out of it. He had three necklaces dangling from his neck, and he had rings adorning almost every single one of his fingers.
What Awsten noticed the most, though, was the thing he had strapped to his hip. It looked like it was made of some sort of hard fabric, and it had a handle sticking out of it. He'd ask Geoff about it later, he decided.
"Wow, you know how to pack for a trip," Geoff said. This was directed towards Patty, who laughed.
"I'm just glad Ronnie enchanted my pockets with unlimited coin on his last visit. The gods know that protecting a forest isn't a high-paying job."
Geoff didn't respond, instead turning to look at Awsten and Otto.
"We're going to be walking for a long time. Do you two think you're up for it? I'm not going to wait for either of you if you fall behind."
Awsten felt himself getting ready to say something along the lines of "We'll try our best to keep up, then," but what came out of his mouth was "I think you should be worried less about us falling behind and more about you being able to keep up."
Wow.
"Wow," Patty whistled. "I think you'll have your hands full, Geoff."
"I think so, too," Geoff answered. He was smiling, almost if what Awsten had said was funny, and Awsten felt something stir in his chest. He didn't know what, exactly, it was, but he liked it when Geoff thought he was funny.
"Alright, anyway, let's get some food in you guys before we head out," Geoff said. He motioned for Awsten and Otto to put down the packs Patty had given them, and when they did he led the way down to the weird crowded portion of the building. They sat at an empty table, and Awsten was handed a menu. He had no idea what anything on it meant, though, so Geoff took it back and ordered for all three of them.
"Aren't you going to eat anything, Patty?" Otto asked.
"Oh, I don't eat human food. I photosynthesize."
"Oh." Awtsen at least knew what that was. They made easy conversation after that until their food came around. Awsten's plate was full of stuff he didn't recognize, and he could see that Otto was just as confused and weirded out as he was.
"What's the matter? Have you guys never had pork before?" Geoff asked.
"No. I don't even know what pork is," Awsten admitted.
"You— you don't... What did you even eat in that place?"
"We had Nutrition Squares."
"Fucking what?"
"Nutrition Squares. They were literal tasteless squares, and they gave us all the nutrients and vitamins we needed for one day," Otto elaborated.
"... That's so depressing and sad. Please go ahead and eat the pork so you know what real flavor tastes like," Geoff said. Awsten gave Geoff a weary and suspicious glance, but he still lifted his fork and brought a bite of what was on his plate to his mouth. What he got was a pleasant but almost overwhelming assault on his taste buds, and he dropped his fork in shock.
"Food can actually taste like this?" he asked. Geoff nodded, an amused half-smile on his face.
"Yes, it can."
Awsten didn't waste his time speaking anymore, too focused on eating as much as he could at one time. He could hear Patty and Geoff laughing at them, but he didn't care. The pork was too good to not eat, and so he ate.
When they had all finished, Patty paid the man behind the counter and they all headed back upstairs. The light from the sun was getting dimmer and dimmer, and Geoff started picking up his stuff when they got back to their room.
"Time for us to go," Geoff said. He went down to "go pay his tab with the innkeeper", and even though Awsten had no idea what that meant he let Geoff slide past him. He left Patty standing in the doorway while Awsten and Otto gathered the items that he had bought for them.
"Here, you guys. Take this," the dryad said. He handed a small bag to each of them, and as Awsten took it the content jingled and jangled in his hands.
"What's in here?"
"Gold. It'll buy you things like food and clothing... Speaking of clothes, you should probably ditch those things that you're wearing. They'll just make you stick out like a sore thumb in the other towns."
Patty closed the door as Awsten and Otto changed into the clothes Patty had bought them earlier. Awsten had seen Otto naked plenty of times, but he still caught himself sneaking glances at Otto's muscled back as they both struggled into the articles of clothing. Eventually they re-emerged, and Patty deemed them good to go. He brought them downstairs and out the doors, where Geoff was waiting for them.
"Ready to go?" he asked. Both Awsten and Otto nodded, but before they could get moving Awsten turned to look at Patty. The dryad seemed kind of sad, but he still gave Awsten the same beaming smile he had offered when they first met.
"Thank you," Awsten said, "for everything. You've been so nice to us, and I won't forget it."
"You better not forget it, asshole. Repay me for my kindness by coming to visit every once in a while, yeah?" Patty replied. He reached out to hug Awsten, and Awsten was shocked for a brief moment. Physical affection wasn't allowed in the Dome; for a moment, Awsten's instincts were yelling at him to get away and hide so he wouldn't get punished, too, but then he remembered where he was, and who he was hugging, and he hugged Patty back with all of his strength. When they were done, Otto didn't even wait for Patty to approach him before wrapping his arms around him.
"Good luck on your travels, you two," Patty said when Otto had released him. "Geoff'll take good care of you, no matter how much of a hardass he tries to make you think he is."
Geoff protested at this, but he still reached out and hugged Patty as well. After the hugs were done, Patty waved to them and turned back towards his forest. Awsten watched him leave until Geoff cleared his throat.
"You'll see him again. The fucker pops up in your life even when you don't want him to," Geoff said. "Let's get going."
The man turned around to face the opposite direction that Patty had taken, and the three of them started walking.
They travelled throughout the night, letting the moon and stars light their path.
"Most people travel during the day," Geoff explained, "but I like to travel at night. Less chance of running into other people. That's why I was sleeping during the day yesterday; I was trying to fix my sleep schedule so that I would be less tired at night."
"Makes sense," Awsten added. They had been walking for a while now, but the physical labor of walking while carrying a pack was enough to keep Awsten awake. Normally, they would have been forced to sleep at lights out every night, but Awsten didn't feel tired yet, so he was hoping he'd at least get pretty far before his body quit and went to sleep. To pass the time, he asked Geoff about his life to try and get a better idea of what people did outside of the Dome. He found out that Geoff was the captain of a pirate crew, whatever that was, and he lived mainly on a ship. Awsten didn't know what a ship was, and Geoff's descriptions did nothing to help him figure it out. Geoff had two wives and one daughter, which was why he had three necklaces; one for each of his lovers, and one for his daughter.
"How does that work, exactly? To have two wives?" Otto asked.
"Well, technically only Chloe and I are married, but I still love both of them, and they love each other, and they both love me," Geoff answered.
"You guys... marry for love?"
"What, you guys don't?" Geoff asked. He looked pretty concerned.
"No, the people in charge pair us up depending on certain things, like genetics and sperm count and stuff."
"They... count your sperm, and then they determine who you're married off to depending on that?"
"Among other things."
"Gods above, what kind of horrible repressed society did you two come from?" Geoff muttered. He looked away from them for a moment, but he turned back around to look at them after a second of deliberation. "Haven't either of you been in love before?"
Awsten shook his head, but, to Awsten's surprise, Otto nodded.
"You have? What did you do about it?" Geoff asked.
"They took me away for a day and told me to get rid of it. Love is just a chemical reaction in the brain. It doesn't mean anything, and so we should ignore it."
The way Otto spouted Their bullshit so easily made Awsten uncomfortable. He didn't want to imagine his best friend locked away in one of those awful white rooms, having someone in a dark and featureless mask look down at him and repeat those same words until Otto internalized it. Vaguely, he remembered that day; he remembered sitting alone at the lunch table, feeling alone and talking to some other kid named Owen. He wondered who Otto had been in love with, and why it was so bad that they had to pull him in for remediation.
Geoff, up until this point, had been silent, but his facial expression was one of horror.
"They actually told you that? Like, word for word?"
"Yeah."
"I'm... so sorry. Hopefully you'll find someone out here that can help you see that love isn't meaningless and can't be easily ignored."
Nobody really spoke much after that. When the sun began to rise, Geoff offered to take the first watch as Awsten and Otto slept, and the two boys curled up next to each other on the blanket Patty had given to them and went to sleep.
A few days into their travels, they had opened up more to Geoff. Awsten found out that he was really funny, so he was always trying to say things to make Geoff and Otto laugh. Otto, too, became more relaxed. Awsten hadn't noticed how tense he had been, but now he smiled more frequently and spoke more. It was nice to see him smile; he was super cute when he smiled, and Awsten smiled just thinking about how his face scrunched up.
Soon, they reached their first town. It was about the same size as the one they had come from, but the buildings looked slightly different and the people dressed in brighter colors.
"This is Yenovitch. They mainly produce textiles, which is why they're so brightly dressed. We need to get some food, and then we can sleep at the inn for the day and leave again at night," Geoff said as they approached the town. They had ended the night not too far from the town, so they decided to skip the sleeping and rest instead when they reached the town. They went straight to the inn, not bothering to stare back at the people who turned their necks to watch them leave. The inn was a lot bigger than the last one, but there weren't nearly as many people inside. It was pretty easy to find an empty table, but Awsten still clutched onto Otto's hand whenever they had to pass by someone else. A pretty girl in a short skirt approached the table after they sat down, and Geoff took the liberty of ordering for all three of them again, which Awsten was grateful for.
"There aren't that many people here," Otto pointed out.
"Yenovitch isn't all that populated. A lot of people moved out of here when the elves came down from the High North."
"Elves?"
"Oh, you'll meet the elves, don't worry. They're not dangerous unless you provoke them, but most humans have some idea that they're savages and can't be trusted, so when the elves' home was destroyed and they had to move most humans moved further south to avoid them," Geoff explained. Awsten mentally filed away the topic of elves as something to ask Geoff more about during their travels.
The girl came back a little bit later, carrying three large cups of something called ale and three plates. Geoff had ordered something called lamb this time, and upon trying it Awsten decided that, even though the lamb was delicious, he still preferred pork. The ale was... Awsten didn't know how to describe it, but Geoff limited him to one cup, and he didn't argue.
The girl who served them seemed to hover near their table, and whenever Awsten looked over at her she always had her eyes trained on Otto. Awsten didn't know why she was only looking at Otto, but he wished she would look at something else.
Eventually she approached the table to clear out their dishes, but instead of picking them up she leaned on the table and made eye contact with Otto.
"So, where are you three heading?"
"We're going—"
"I wasn't really talking to you," the girl snapped. Geoff looked offended that she had cut him off, and the girl glared at him before turning back to look at Otto with an expression that made Awsten want to vomit his lamb back up all over her.
"Uh, we're going up North. Landry, I think?" Otto answered.
"Oh, Landry! You know, my family used to live there, before those elves came down. If you want, I'm leaving to go visit in a few days, if you want to... maybe stay behind and go with me instead?"
She was staring at Otto intently now. She blinked rapidly, leaning her body closer towards Otto, and Awsten had had enough.
"No way, lady. He's staying with us, and that's final," Awsten cut in. He sounded angrier than he had meant to be, but it got the girl to glare at him and go away, so he counted it as a win.
"Hey, what was that all about?" Geoff asked.
"She was making Otto uncomfortable," Awsten answered. Which, to be fair, was true; Otto had closed up again, avoiding eye contact and shifting closer to Awsten like he always had when the guards got too close to them during dinner in the Dome.
"Well, she was obviously just trying to pick him up for sex, anyway, so I'm glad you drove her away. I doubt she's actually going to Landry if she doesn't have any family left up there."
"How do you know she was trying to... uh, 'pick him up'?" Awsten asked.
"Didn't... Didn't you realize that? I thought... Ugh, nevermind. She was flirting, is all, and now it's time for us to go to bed so we can move on when night falls."
Geoff stood up from the table, leaving Awsten and Otto sitting at the table so he could go secure them a room for the day. Awsten sat there and thought while Geoff was away. Awsten barely knew what flirting was; if he didn't know what she was doing, why did he get so mad? It wasn't like she had been insulting Otto or anything, so why did Awsten get so defensive?
Geoff came back before he could do too much introspection, and they went upstairs to find their room and go to sleep. Geoff locked the door, and the three of them passed out on the giant bed in the middle of the room.
They set off when the sun went down, leaving Yenovitch and the girl behind. Awsten glared at her as they walked through the bottom part of the inn, and he held onto Otto's hand until they had walked out of the door.
"Dude, you're gonna burn a hole into her head," Geoff laughed.
"I can't do that."
"Obviously not, it's just... an expression... Nevermind. Let's get going."
They walked along the same path for a few days, eating the food they had bought in Yenovitch and drinking by collecting water from a stream that ran beside them through the grassy plain. Eventually, Awsten insisted that they all smelled and needed a bath, so Geoff veered off the path and took them all to the bank of a rather large lake that was connected to the stream they had seen. Geoff didn't say anything, and instead started stripping out of his clothes. Otto followed after a second of hesitation, and soon Awsten did, too. Once again, he found himself looking over at Otto, who had finished undressing and had since jumped into the stream. When he reemerged, long hair loose and wet and water running down his chest muscles, Awsten felt his mouth go dry and had to avoid looking at him anymore in case his cheeks betrayed him and turned even redder.
Something was different. Something had changed, and Awsten didn't know if it was a they thing or an Awsten thing that had shifted between when they left the Dome and now. Maybe it wasn't even a change; maybe the Dome had kept him from realizing that something was there, and now that they were free it was finally coming up to the surface. He wasn't sure if he liked this new development or not.
"Awsten, are you going to stand there all day or are you gonna take a bath? This was your idea, remember?" Geoff called.
"What? Oh, yeah, I'm coming." Awsten finished taking off his pants and underwear and jumped in after his two friends, pushing aside whatever it was that he was feeling. He could think about it when they had settled down somewhere up North, away from the Dome and away from any lingering obedience and repression he still carried. He ended up accidentally splashing Geoff with water when he jumped in, and as Awsten emerged from underwater Geoff got him back by splashing him directly in the face.
"Hey!"
"What? It's fair game!"
Their bathing devolved into a splashing contest, and for a while their shrieks and laughter were sent out over the plain as they fought. The fun came to a halt, though, when Awsten felt something brush against his ankle. At first he ignored it, figuring it was some sort of underwater plant, but then whatever it was wrapped itself around his ankle, gripping with enough force to concern him.
"Hey, something's—"
Awsten didn't get to finish the question, because whatever had grabbed him had dragged him underwater. He heard Otto and Geoff yelling, but they were muted, sounding far away and unreal. Awsten opened his eyes to see a pretty girl in front of him, smiling at him with razor-sharp teeth. Why was there a girl underwater?
His question was answered when he looked behind her. Her legs were gone, replaced instead by a long and lithe-looking tail that was lazily moving through the water. She was looking at him with the same sort of look that girl at the inn had given Otto, and Awsten was afraid.
"Hello there, pretty thing," the girl said. Awsten didn't respond, since he couldn't breathe underwater. The girl giggled and pulled him closer to her, using his ankle as leverage. Soon her face was right above his.
"Don't you want to stay here with me? Just give in, and you can have everyth—"
She didn't get to finish her sentence. Someone had stabbed her with something long and metal, and the girl screamed and released Awsten. Strong arms wrapped around Awsten's torso and dragged him back up to the surface. He took a deep breath and then found himself coughing as Otto held him against his warm chest.
"Fucking mermaids," Geoff cursed. The long metal thing had belonged to him, and Awsten recognized it as Geoff's sword that he had asked about a few days ago. The hard fabric thingy he had been seeing must have been something to hold the metal part with. The metal glinted in the moonlight, and Awsten could tell that it was covered in dark blood. The water of the lake had turned dark as the mermaid probably bled out, and Geoff sighed and put his sword back in its holder.
"Come on, let's get dressed. The others will probably be arriving soon, and they don't take kindly to people who kill their sisters."
"Wait, what just happened?" Awsten asked.
"She was trying to eat you. That's what they do; they lure in boys using their pretty faces— or, I guess now they just drag you under— and then they drown you and eat your dead body."
Awsten and Otto dressed in silence, and soon they were off again. Awsten stuck close to Otto, shivering and shaking and wanted to take comfort from the warmth Otto put off, and when they stopped for the day Otto didn't question it as Awsten curled up next to him. Otto simply wrapped his arm around Awsten and fell asleep.
"Love you, Awsten," Otto mumbled as his eyes slipped shut.
"Love you too, buddy," Awsten whispered. He was almost asleep, but his brain chose that moment to have a revelation.
Love. It was love. Awsten's eyes shot open, and even though he could see nothing but Otto's sleepshirt he still felt like he was seeing more than he ever had before. He loved Otto. He finally understood how Geoff felt when he talked about missing his wives and his daughter, about how he would do anything for them and about how they were what kept him going in life. That was why he had gotten so mad at the girl in Yenovitch; that was why he kept looking at Otto weirdly; that was what had changed in him; that was why he found comfort in Otto's touch.
Awsten was an idiot. He was a bug, dumb idiot, and he resented his ancestors who decided to live in a metal fucking dome for inadvertently putting him in an environment where he had to repress any and all emotions except fear and pain in order to survive.
Otto's soft breathing served to make Awsten's freak-out worse, so he carefully slipped out of Otto's arms to go sit in solitude. Instead of solitude, however, he found Geoff, staring across the plains as the sun climbed higher in the sky.
"Hey, what's up? Why aren't you asleep?" Geoff asked when he saw Awsten approaching.
"How did you know," Awsten began, ignoring Geoff's question, "that you were in love? With your wives?"
"Oi, uh... pretty loaded question. But, I guess... With Chloe, it was when I saw her dancing. We had grown up together, and she had always been my best friend. One day, though, we were hanging out in this flower field together, and I had brought my guitar with me. So, I was playing it, and she started dancing. And just... The way she moved, and how she looked so carefree and happy, I knew right then that I would do anything to make her feel like that again, no matter what. With Jewel, it was more of a love at first sight thing. She was at the market when Chloe and I were, and we made eye contact. and we just... knew."
"Huh."
"Why do you ask?"
"No reason."
"Have you finally moved on and accepted that you're in love with him?"
Awsten's head snapped up to look at Geoff, who looked like he knew something Awsten didn't. That fucker.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that when you went underwater in the lake, Otto was freaking out until we found you again. It means that when some random waitress was flirting with Otto, you got angry without realizing why you were angry. I'm not stupid, and I've been around you two for the last two weeks. Seems to me like you figured out how you felt, and now you're freaking out about it."
Awsten was quiet, and Geoff waited a bit before speaking again. "The only question is has he realized it too?"
"I don't think so. I don't... I don't know if he feels the same."
"What? Dude, come on, do you know how long he stared at your ass today in the lake? He's totally into you. You've just gotta say something to him."
"I'm... I'm scared to."
"I know you are. But hey, Landry isn't that far away, and if it'll be easier to confess to him when I'm not there then you can wait until I leave."
Until I leave. Awsten had almost forgotten that Geoff was only going to Landry so he could get back out to sea, and that they probably wouldn't meet again.
"Oh. Yeah, uh... I don't know. Maybe. I still don't know what we're gonna do once we get there, so..."
"You could always settle down there, or you could continue on walking and find somewhere else to go," Geoff suggested. He looked like he wanted to say more, but he paused before actually saying it. "Or, you could come with me on my ship."
"What?"
"You heard me. You could come with me, and we'd keep moving by sea. That way those people will never find you, and you get to see more of the world as a bonus."
Awsten was stunned that Geoff would offer them something. After almost two weeks of walking together, he trusted Geoff with his life (which proved to be a good idea, since Geoff had already saved him once), and he was sure Geoff felt the same, but this whole time he assumed Geoff was dead set on parting ways after they reached Landry.
"I'd have to bring it up to Otto, but... but that sounds neat. I'd like that."
Geoff nodded in understanding. "We'll talk about it tomorrow. For now, though, if you're gonna be up having your very first sexuality crisis, I'm gonna let you have first watch and go to bed."
Awsten flipped him the bird, a new gesture he had learned, and Geoff laughed. Awsten didn't stop him from going to sleep, though, and he resumed Geoff's position of doing nothing but staring out over the plains and thinking.
Awsten woke up later to see Otto standing over him. Otto had had the last watch shift, and so he was in charge of waking everyone else up.
"Hey, get up. We need to get going, and Geoff's already up and ready to go."
"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" Awsten asked.
"Honestly? Because you looked so cute while you were sleeping, I didn't want to disturb you."
Awsten would unpack that later. He stood up and packed up his things, and soon they were back to walking. They walked in silence for a while, and the silence weighed heavily on Awsten's shoulders.
"So," Geoff said after a few hours of near-silence. "Otto, I have something to ask you."
"Yeah? What's up?" Otto asked.
"I know this entire time we said we were gonna split up in Landry, but how would you like to come with me on my ship?"
Otto didn't even hesitate before shouting out "YES!". Geoff laughed, and Awsten smiled.
"That's good to know, then, because Awsten already said yes and I don't think you two would want to be separated."
Awsten's smile faded instantly. Otto coughed and stared at the ground. Geoff seemed to sense the awkwardness he had accidentally created, so he scratched the back of his neck and sighed.
"We'll reach Landry by the end of the night. We'll spend the next three days there, and then we'll head out."
The silence resumed, and true enough they had reached the town of Landry by the time the sun was just about to break through the horizon. It was a LOT bigger than Yenovitch had been, and Awsten stared in awe at the bigger buildings and large cobblestone paths that Geoff referred to as streets. There were buildings everywhere, and the roads crisscrossed everywhere. Geoff didn't stop or get confused, though; Awsten struggled to keep up with him as he zipped through town. Eventually they reached a small-ish building off of a side street, and Geoff knocked on the door as Awsten and Otto caught up to him. A woman opened the door, and she screamed and hugged Geoff when she realized who it was. This must be Chloe; Awsten remembered her face from the picture of her in one of Geoff's lockets.
"You're back! We weren't expecting you for another three days, I—"
"I came back early. I couldn't wait to see you three any longer. Where's Jewel?"
"She's taking care of Rory," Chloe answered. She looked over at Otto and Awsten, and her expression dropped.
"Who are these two?"
"Oh, they're Awsten and Otto. Patty asked me to take them to Landry, and they've agreed to join our crew."
"They better be good at cleaning, then."
Awsten couldn't tell if she was joking or not.
"Do you guys want to come in? Breakfast is just about done, and I'm sure you two are tired from weeks of walking," Chloe offered. Awsten nodded, and they followed Geoff inside of his house.
Turns out Geoff's daughter adored Otto. While they were introduced to Geoff's family properly, and while Awsten recounted the story of their upbringing in the Dome, Rory kept toddling over to Otto, asking to be picked up and then tugging on his long hair or falling asleep against his shoulder. Otto, for having never interacted with a baby recently, did fairly well with her. A now all-too-familiar feeling soared in Awsten's chest when he watched Otto gently handle the toddler, but he stamped it down for now. Now wasn't the right time.
Jewel and Chloe helped Awsten and Otto make up the spare bedroom after dinner, and they left the two of them alone with a "Hope you don't mind sharing" comment from Jewel. Then they were left alone, and Awsten's feelings were forcing their way up his throat.
"Which side do you w—"
"We need to talk," Awsten began. Otto was sitting on the bed staring at him, blinking at the audacity of being interrupted, and Awsten took a deep breath.
"I love you. I don't know how else to say it, I—"
Otto was no longer on the bed. He had shot up and grabbed the back of Awsten's neck with his large hand to pull Awsten in for a kiss. Awsten stood still at first, unsure of what to do, but before he could react Otto had pulled away.
"I heard you and Geoff talking the other night."
"Glad you cut off my dramatic speech, then, 'cause that would have been useless."
Otto laughed, but then his smile lessened.
"Do you remember how I mentioned I was taken away for remediation that one time?" When Awsten nodded, Otto sighed. "It was you that I was in love with. That was why they took me away so quickly. It was one thing to love a girl and then accidentally get her pregnant like what Jawn did. They just raised the baby and gained another two hands of free labor. They said it was worse to love another boy, and that I was a danger to the entire community. Inever... I never stopped loving you, though. I'm just glad you love me back, though. I was okay with just being your friend, but this is so much better."
This time Awsten was the one to kiss Otto. The feeling he had learned was love exploded in his chest, and he silently wondered how anything like this could be bad or dangerous.
The next three days were spent inside of Geoff's house, interacting with his family and preparing to set sail, and on day four they said goodbye to Jewel and Rory and made their way towards the dock. Awsten had never seen the sea before, but when he caught sight of it he stopped dead. Geoff looked back at him, obviously to tell him to hurry up, but he stopped when he saw the look on Awsten's face. His feathered hat had returned to its usual spot on his head, but he had gained a fancy coat with too many buttons on it, and his boots had been shined so that they gleamed in the sunlight.
"She's gorgeous, isn't she?" Geoff asked.
"Yeah, she is."
"Well, come on then. We've got to introduce you to the rest of the crew."
Geoff turned back around and headed down the wooden dock, aiming for the biggest ship of the collection anchored in the harbor. Geoff's description of his ship had done it no justice
Otto slid up next to Awsten, intertwining their hands and resting his chin on Awsten's shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm more than okay," Awsten answered truthfully. He then dragged Otto after their friends, excited to meet the crew and to spend the next indefinite amount of time getting to know everything he could possibly learn about the ocean with Otto by his side.