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1
At face value, it was an easy job. Hijack the carriage, find the cup, take it and run. This wasn’t the first job like this that Punz had completed so he was fairly confident he could get this done with minimum interference.
Being a mercenary left Punz with a decent amount of money and a load of curiosity. He liked to believe that he cared about nothing but getting the job done but, when an old man offers him a whole bag of gold to receive a single cup, he can’t help but have a million questions. Given the amount paid and how simple the job seemed Punz was a bit wary of the security the cup may have, so tucking a few extra knives into his boots he left for the only trail leading into the kingdom.
Punz’s Tuesday evening was spent sitting in the dirt behind a cover of bushes waiting for the carriage to arrive. Luckily for him it was to arrive well after the sun had set, giving him a bit more cover. With any luck Punz would be able to jump on top of the carriage, grab the cup and disappear under the cover of night undetected.
Everything was going to plan and when the time came, he climbed up a nearby tree and watched as the carriage made its way down the road. At the right time he jumped down landing as quietly as he could. The carriage kept moving without any disturbances so Punz took that as a win and started looking through the bags secured at the rear of the vehicle.
Then everything turned sideways. Literally.
Just as he grabbed the cup, he felt himself lose his footing and fall forwards. The carriage had tipped over and the horses had run off. There were a group dressed in black approaching and it was clear they were armed. He doesn’t know how he never realised they were there, but he realises now he’s screwed if he doesn’t get out.
When the carriage tipped, he landed a few meters away, his black clothes hopefully helped him blend in and let him stay unseen. Stumbling up he made his way back to the forest and went to hide behind a tree, keeping his eyes on the group that were now robbing the carriage.
“Shit.”
“Shit indeed.” Punz jumped at the unknown voice and before he could do anything an arm pushing against his chest sent him into the tree. Before he could grab a weapon, his arm was also pinned against the tree. “I wouldn’t if I was you, if I shout, which I will, you’ll have to deal with the six of them over there.”
“What the fuck do you want,” Punz had heard of a group of bandits that would rob carriages at night, but they normally only robbed the royals. He had seen it before and it looked exactly like this. The carriage tipped over, horses ran off and all the valuables stolen. But every time the people inside were kept alive and if the knife that’s appeared by Punz’s neck said anything, he doesn’t think he’ll end up the same way.
“I want to know what you were going on top of that carriage.” Shit, did the owners have external security. Punz had been hired a few times to shadow someone and take out any threats but it was much different than this. Punz didn’t understand this situation. “You’re not dressed like a royal guard or a servant and you don’t seem like the assassin type, so what are you?”
“Royal guard? What the fuck are you on about? I came to get this cup back.” He awkwardly tried to raise the cup to show the other, but the arm across his chest made it a bit difficult. “I could ask you the same thing, you know. Who the fuck are you and why am I being interrogated?” Finally taking a proper look at the man he noticed he didn’t look like a normal bandit. Instead of an all-black look, he was wearing a blue cape that looked like the hood was shaped as a shark’s head. It only added to his confusion.
“You’re the one pinned against the tree therefore, you get interrogated.” The man’s voice was weirdly cheerful for the situation, Punz fully believes that he isn’t taking any of this seriously.
“Listen, I’m not a snitch, technically I stole this cup so if you let me go, you’ll have my word, I won’t report this, I won’t even utter a word about this. No one needs to know!” Punz would like to believe he was just using his charm and not borderline pleading for his life.
“Hm, only because I like you,” a smirk was placed on the man’s face as he dropped his arms and stepped away.
“Thank you?” With a quizzical look, Punz ran deeper into the forest before heading back towards the kingdom
After handing over the cup to the old man, Punz found out it was a royal carriage but from another kingdom. Apparently, the man used to work there and was accused of stealing, which he never done, but now wanted to, just to prove a point or something like that. Punz really didn’t ask and he really didn’t care, all he could think about now was the man and his group in the forest.
2
It had been a few weeks since the run in at the forest and since then Punz had only heard of more stories about hold ups on that road. However, whenever Punz asked about them, nobody knew anything or weren’t willing to say anything, it was all a bit strange.
Punz had moved on and had a new job to do now. He was to accompany a bard to a social event, hosted by a socialite close to the royals, and gather information on a possible target. Later on, he will eliminate said target if it is proven he’s a threat. But that’s a worry for another day, right now he’s dressed in rich clothing getting to drink and eat as much as he wants. Punz wasn’t greedy, being greedy in his profession can lead to death, he only stole as much as he was paid for, took a reasonable number of jobs and didn’t argue with clients. All of those things can cause attention and as Punz had learned attention equals death. Living an honest life had its pros of staying undetected but also its cons of not getting to indulge in fancy eating and drinking much. So now that it’s a part of the job he was going to take full advantage of it.
All night he had been shadowing his target, listening into his conversations and making small talk with him. Everything was going to plan, until he spotted a familiar face. The server holding a tray of champaign glasses at the side looked eerily similar to the man in the forest. Trying to get a closer look at the man he managed to garner his attention, and if the smirk he got said anything it was that he was definitely the same man.
Taking the opportunity to try find out more about the guy Punz decided to approach the other.
“Who are you?” Punz questioned, the man was unpredictable so he decided to use to a straight forward approach
“Why, I’m just a server, here to serve you as much as you want to drink.” The fake overly happy and innocent tone made Punz’s jaw clench. He hated not understanding things and he really didn’t understand this mysterious guy.
“What’s your name then?”
“Foolish. Drink?” The tray was shoved towards Punz, some of the glasses nearly tipping.
“That’s a fake name.” Picking up the nearest glass and taking a sip.
“Oh, and Punz isn’t?” Startled, Punz had to focus on not choking. How the fuck does this man know his name?
Apparently, he didn’t hide his shock well and his question was answered. “After our little run in, I wasn’t exactly going to let you go and not follow up. What kind of criminal leaves witnesses?”
“One that wants to be caught. I get it, what do you want?”
“I’m not your target, you’re not going to find out much from me.”
“How much do you know?” Punz was starting to feel threatened, he wasn’t known to the common people which means a previous client must’ve snitch about him. He would kill this Foolish guy and whoever sold him out in a second to keep his identity unknown.
“Don’t worry, that’s all my guy could find on you. He apparently cashed in all his favours and left owing some. You’re quite impressive.” Punz couldn’t decipher the tone or emotion on his face. It was said in almost a joking way but it wasn’t mean.
“Why-“ Before he could ask any more questions, a loud shout cut him off.
“TIME’S UP!”
Foolish gave him one final smirk before throwing the tray with the drinks to the side and pulling out a bow and arrow, from where Punz does not know.
Shooting an arrow with rope attached to the end of it up at the ceiling and using it to climb up to the mezzanine. Running away with multiple others from the crowd. In the chaos Punz made his way back towards his target and carried on with his job.
3
The mission had gone completely and utterly wrong. What was meant to be an easy mission had ended up with Punz running away from kingdom guards. All he had to do was stop a merchant cart from getting to the kingdom gates. He had created a small contraption that when the trigger was pulled would start a fire. The fire would scare the horses and stop the cart, it was meant to be easy. What Punz didn’t plan on was that the merchants would have security. Wither it was on purpose or not, there was a carriage filled with kingdom guards following the merchant cart. As soon as they saw the fire, they were on their feet gunning for Punz.
He knew he had to find a place to hide in the forest as going back to the kingdom would only leave him walled in. Making his way deeper into the woods he could still hear the footsteps behind him. Deciding he couldn’t outrun the guards, Punz found a dense enough bush in a ditch he could hide in until they passed.
Punz sat holding his breath listening to the guards shout about losing sight. Eventually their voices died out and Punz let out a sigh, finally relaxing a bit. He was preparing to leave and leg it back to the kingdom before anyone else saw him. However, before he could move a twig snapped behind him. Tensing up, Punz pulled a knife out of his shoe a faced where the noise came from.
“Move up a bit, I need to hide here,” Punz was shocked he was even hearing that voice again. “And get that knife out my face, it’s so rude.”
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Running from a bunch of guards that think I set a carriage on fire, should I ask you the same or am I safe in presuming it’s much the same as me.” Crouching down next to him was Foolish, the man who seemed to always find Punz no matter where he is.
Groaning as his side was pushed into a spikey bit as Foolish squished himself into the bush. “Surely there’s another bush you can hide in or you could climb up a tree! That way you could see the guards better and it would be a much better hiding space than this dumb bush that definitely cannot fit both of us.”
“If you love trees so much, you go climb one. I’m not moving.” To accentuate his point, and his childishness, he crossed his arms and formed a pout on his face. “Oh, also, I may have led them back this way so you probably shouldn’t move anytime soon though.”
“So, I’m stuck here?”
“Yep.”
“With you?”
“Yep.” Popping the p, foolish gave an impish grin.
4
The first time Punz ran into Foolish when he wasn’t in the middle of a job, was on a clam Sunday morning. Punz was enjoying a peaceful walk round the market that was going on in the town centre when he saw a glimpse of the shark shaped cape. He followed the man quietly behind him as to not bring attention to either of them. He didn’t know Foolish done for a living but he could make an educated guess that it wasn’t something legal.
He caught up with the other when Foolish had stopped by an old man begging at the side of the street. They talked for a bit then Foolish handed the man a small coin pouch that was near bursting at the seams. Approaching the two, Punz placed a hand on Foolish’s shoulder to gain his attention.
“Oh, Punz! I didn’t think I’d meet you here.” Foolish sounded shocked but there was his usual wide grin on his face, though this time it seemed a bit more genuine.
“I didn’t think I’d ever meet you anywhere normal.”
“Are you saying you don’t like our forest run-ins?” Before anything else could be said the usual teasing smirk and tone were back.
Rolling his eyes, Punz dropped his hand off his shoulder, “I didn’t say that, I just thought I’d have to hide in a tree to see you again.”
Foolish gave a small laugh as they started to walk together around the market. They had managed to talk a bit when hiding from the guards, but a lot of it ended in bickering as neither of them were too pleased at their situation. This however, was very different, the conversation was pleasant, it was a side of Foolish he hadn’t seen yet.
“So, what do you even do? Why are you constantly on the run and in the forest?” Despite Punz always asking what Foolish was doing, he never actually got an answer. Maybe it was the way that he asked it before, where he more demanded than asked. But this time he finally got an answer.
“We steal from the rich and give to the poor. It often ends in us running from the palace guards, but it’s worth it,” The small genuine smile appeared back on Foolish’s face and Punz couldn’t help but smile with him.
“Who is we? And the palace guards, you steal from the palace?” Punz was slightly shocked at that. Even he wouldn’t touch a job that had anything to do with the royalty. Their guards were trained twice as hard as the normal kingdom guards.
“Of course, we steal from the palace, they have the most money and aren’t using it. It’s a no brainer. And ’we’ is the band of merry men that I work with. You’ll probably meet them soon; they really want to meet you.” Foolish continued walking as if he didn’t just drop a bomb on Punz.
“Wait, wait, wait, what do you mean by that. How do they know me and why would they want to meet me?”
“The first time we met, they were the one robbing the carriage and I made a few of them try find out who you were just in case. I guess they were impressed by you, I know I was. They probably want to try get you to join the group if I was to guess.”
Punz couldn’t lie, his heart beat a bit harder after hearing he impressed the other. “Would you want me to join the group?” He couldn’t help but ask, he wanted to spend more time with Foolish and to properly meet his group. He thought the whole giving to the poor thing noble and the more Foolish talked about it, the more he admired what they done.
“I mean yeah, you would be a really good addition, you’re good at your job and it would be nice getting to see you more than once a month.” Giving a giggle, Foolish bumped their shoulders together and they continued walking down the street.
A few hours later, Punz found himself back at his house after Foolish offered to walk him back home. It was nice seeing Foolish again but it was hard leaving him, not knowing when they will bump into each other again. Making his way in, he quickly made a small dinner and went straight to bed.
When he woke in the morning, there was a letter pushed under his door addressed to him. Opening it up he was met with neat cursive handwriting, scanning to the bottom he saw the letter was signed by Foolish. He honestly didn’t think the smile on his face could get bigger.
5
It had been a couple of months since Punz had seen Foolish but the letters haven’t stopped. Every morning Punz wakes up and checks his flower pot for any new letters and every few days there is a new one signed by Foolish. One time Punz had to leave on a job for two weeks and came back to a small pile of letters, the next time one was dropped off there was also a small iced bun from the bakery and a note hoping the job went well. Punz would deny crying but the tear drops left on the letter would prove him wrong. Punz was just very tired and the letter was really sweet and thoughtful, it wasn’t his fault.
Punz also wrote his own letters back. He’d leave letters tucked away under plant pots to be picked up whenever his letters a dropped off. In his job, he couldn’t get close to anyone, so having someone to talk to was nice. He also received notes from other members of the group, they were normally about stupid things Foolish done that they all laughed at. Punz also got a giggle out of a few of them but more than anything his heart warmed at them.
+1
It had all been a set up. The job had led him straight into a trap where he was bombarded with palace guards. Apparently one of the jobs he had done pissed off the neighbouring kingdom and the palace had promised to deal with the issue. That issue being Punz.
He was arrested, his hands bound behind him, and to his absolute humiliation, the arrest was shouted about in the middle of town square. Everyone would know he had been caught.
This isn’t Punz’s first time being arrested, he had escaped prison many times before, but that was with the kingdom guards and their badly secure prisons. He had crossed the palace guards and never has anyone escaped the palace jail. To make matters worse, he was led to a secure carriage rather than escorted to any sort of prison.
“You got caught trying to steal from Princess Adrianna, therefore you’re being trialled under her jurisdiction.” The guard spoke up while roughly shoving him through the carriage door
What
“I heard they still do executions there.” Another guard so kindly added to the conversation.
Punz knew that they were trying to get a reaction out of him, one of fear or maybe anger, possibly for him to try and run so they can kill him on the spot and not have to worry about escorting him there. But Punz wouldn’t give them it. No matter how hard his heart was beating in his chest, he sat there stone cold face, not willing to give them the response that they wanted.
“Alright let’s get a move on.” With that the carriage started moving out to the kingdom gates and towards the forest to the neighbouring kingdom.
By the time they made it to the forest, night had fell and the only light was the reflection from the moon. It made it hard to see anything outside, but Punz refused to look anywhere but out the window. The trees looked scary at night, the dark branches looked more sinister and winding. The lighting also didn’t help with the shadows making it look like the trees were moving.
Wait… The trees are moving.
Inching closer to the window, trying not to raise attention from the guards, Punz took a closer look out the windows. Sure, enough there was a shadow keeping up with the carriage, jumping like a frog from tree to tree. It was mesmerising to watch and for a second Punz forgot he was basically on his way to his execution. But only for a second. A loud explosion quickly brought him back to reality.
He could hear the horses outside causing a disturbance as the carriage came to a halt. The look on the guard’s faces as they got out to check told Punz that this wasn’t anything planned. There were yells, clashing then the sound of the horses running off. However, the carriage didn’t start moving again instead, it tipped to the side.
Not being able to do much with his hands still tied, Punz felt his head hit against the side of the carriage. Grabbing a piece of broken glass, he desperately tried to cut the rope around his wrist. He felt disorientated and he still didn’t know what had caused the incident outside, so he opted to stay inside the carriage and listen.
“I said to stop the carriage, not flip it. You idiot!” Oh, he recognised that voice but he couldn’t quite place it, the ringing in his ears were taking up his attention.
“It’s not like I meant to! It was supposed to shake the thing a bit to get the guards out.” There was another voice that he recognised but he couldn’t think of a face.
There was a series of thumps and then the door rattled. Pulling out the shard on glass again in defence and putting his guard up.
“You going to stab me with that thing?” Looking up Punz met the face of a smug looking Foolish.
“Depends, are you going to flip another carriage I’m in?” Punz gave his own smirk back.
Foolish spluttered trying to come up with a comeback, in the he gave up with a whine. “I didn’t mean to, I just told Ant to stop it, I didn’t think he would flip it again.”
“Just give us a hand up.”
Foolish led Punz into the edge of the forest where the rest of the group were waiting. The guards had been knocked out and left beside the tipped vehicle. Reaching the group, he was handed a hooded cloak before they made their way deeper into the forest.
By the time they made it to a clearing, Punz was dead on his feet. The adrenaline from the arrest had worn off and he was crashing. The dull throb from the cuts on his arm and side were the only thing keeping him awake. He got guided over to a wooden table where he was lifted and gently placed on top. Punz was too drowsy to react when his shirt was lifted and his cuts tended too. Despite the table not being comfortable in anyway, his eyes slowly closed and sleep took over.
When Punz woke up the sun had risen and laughter travelled in from behind a door. He stayed lying in the bed enjoying the heat from the sunrays until there was a knock on the door. Before he could respond the door opened and Foolish walked in with bandages and a bowl of water. The sun reflecting off his skin looked like a heavenly glow, his hair was soft and instead of his usual getup, he was in a simple t-shirt and slacks. All Punz wanted was to cuddle the man and fall back asleep.
“Oh, you’re awake. I was just going to change your bandages, could you sit up for me?” His tone was also soft and it made Punz want to melt into a puddle of just warmth.
“Do I have to? I think I just need to sleep them off.” Punz was not ready to get out of bed yet but the unimpressed look from Foolish told him he wasn’t going to get away with it.
“C’mon I need to clean the cuts, I can’t have you getting infected, especially when you’re in my bed.” A blush made its way onto Punz’s face at the realisation of being in the other’s bed.
“What are you? My nurse now?”
“If that’s what you want to call me, I’ll take it.”
The blush deepened on his face and he gave up trying to fight Foolish, it was clear it would only end up with him more flustered than anything. Sitting up he allowed Foolish access to the wounds.
Foolish tended to the cuts gently, his hands were light and he gave quiet reassurances anytime Punz flinch. Punz couldn’t stop looking at the concentrated look on the other’s face. It was nothing short of adorable with his brows bunched up and nose occasionally twitching. As soon as he was done, Foolish placed the t-shirt back over his side before moving on to his arm. Surprisingly, his arm only suffered from a light graze and a couple of bruises.
“Thank you,” Punz’s voice had gone down to a whisper. The laughter outside had died down and the only other noise was the gentle rustle of leaves.
“Of course, Boomer overheard the arrest announcement, we weren’t just gonna leave you.” Foolish still had hand tenderly placed on his forearm, shifting so they were sitting so close their knees touched.
The reminder of the night before brought back the dread he felt. Staring at the floor he tried to forget what happened, he was safe now and away from any threats. He just probably could never go back to the kingdom, his house, his job –
“Hey.” His thoughts were interrupted with a hand on his jaw and a kind voice. “Look at me,” guiding his head up Foolish made eye contact with Punz. “You’re fine, no one knows about this place, it’s super hard to get to so nobody is going to find you here. You can also stay here; we’ll get someone to grab your stuff and bring it back and you can stay for as long as you want.”
The warmth once again consumed Punz’s body as he leaned into the hand. “Thank you,” he repeated once again in a soft whisper. The look on Foolish’s face was so fond that Punz swore he was going to melt, he was so sure he was going to. When Foolish leaned in and their lips finally met, Punz had sworn he had not only melted but evaporated.
“Are you wanting to stay? No pressure.”
“Of course, dumbass.” Punz buried himself into Foolish’s chest and pushed him down onto the bed. “Now we’re taking a nap.”
Laughing, Foolish kissed his forehead and pulled the cover over the two of them.