Chapter Text
It all started with a passing comment from Roksoo about the lack of rice in their meals. It wasn't even a complain of any sort, a mere observation and nothing more.
But Cale was hooked.
He had known that Kim Rok Soo and Choi Han were from a different world than his own -it was in their very names and unique appearance- but it hadn't really set in properly about what that truly meant until then.
That little comment piqued his curiosity as he realized, in one jarring moment, that-
Holy shit! His friend was from another world!
Reason?
Cale had never heard about rice. Let alone eat it. He had even asked Beacrox about it, thinking it was probably one of the meals commoners frequently ate and nobles tended to turn up their noses at, so it just wasn't served in the mansion.
As a culinary expert, Beacrox should have known about it, had that been the case. But all Cale got was a frown and a confused "What?" from the bewildered chef.
It was the confirmation that this "rice" was something from Roksoo's world that it was a food item of some kind.
Implying that the food found in Roksoo's world could be different than his world and he might miss it sometimes even though he would never voice it out.
Cale had never really thought about it before because Roksoo was both obviously familiar with and loved the meals he was served in this world. So it was possible that they just had different cuisines and maybe they are found somewhere in his world too.
So Cale -curious as he was -started asking Roksoo questions, lots and lots of questions about his world and anything and everything in it.
Throughout the entirety of their time together, Cale would ask Roksoo questions about his world at random times whenever Roksoo mentions something in passing and his curiosity struck.
Roksoo who didn't like spending his energy talking, would only give him short, concise answers.
The vague responses answered the questions but gave rise to so many more questions that it only tended to make him more curious.
The commander would then continously sigh, like he was having his soul drained out of him through words but couldn't ever manage to shut him down whenever Cale looked at him with wide eyes brimming with excitement at learning something new.
Luckily, Cale almost always let him go after a few questions and slotted the rest for later, letting him get away with plenty of one word or a singular sentence answers.
For all the times he didn't let up because he couldn't understand something enough to at least satisfy his curiosity temporarily, Roksoo would reluctantly give detailed explanations like he was teaching students in a class as Cale would then be joined by the kids and sometimes even other adult curious members of their group.
They didn't always join in because they complained about too much flirting when the pair started to banter too much, leaving the couple either completely confused or with reddened cheeks or ears and still very much confused depending on what kind of comment was made.
All throughout those years of war, hunters and everything else that happened before he finally gained his slacker life, Roksoo didn't quite manage to understand why he ever made those passing remarks to begin with, knowing it would only pique the redhead's curiosity.
It wasn't like him at all.
Roksoo would think as he made a comment about something mundane to himself with a stoic face and quite anticipation whenever he saw the young master talking animatedly with someone else for far too long, letting his presence be known and then staring at Cale with barely suppressed elation as the redhead would then excuse himself and drop everything else to focus entirely on him and him alone.
Leaving the person Cale was conversing with either confused and then scared at the terrifying pressure coming from their commander if it was an unfortunate stranger being subjected to the leaking dominating aura or sighing if it were someone they were close to.
Roksoo didn't try understand why he did it or what his strange feelings were, opting to ignore them instead but he continued to do so and kept on adding fuel to the constantly burning fire that was Cale's curiosity.
"What's a company?"
"An organization where people work at different levels of hierarchy. "
"You don't have magic in your world?"
"No."
"What's a cellphone?"
"Communication device."
"How do devices work if there is no magic stones?"
"Electricity. Cells. Batteries. "
"You are telling me, you don't need mages or magic because you can power everything through LIGHTNING!?"
"I said lighting is sparks of Electricity between clouds. Not that we use lighting."
"How do you even harness and store lightening?"
"You are not even listening, are you..."
He would sigh and pout and complain but continue regardless, unaware of his softened eyes and gentle expression.
The barely perceptible twitch of his lips trying to curl up into a smile was noticeable to every other person in their makeshift family but the couple involved as the baby dragon with them showed them the video he had recorded, hoping to capture his human's smile.
"What do you mean humans are the only intelligent and self conscious species on earth? What about the others? Elves? Beast people? Vampires? Mermaids? Dragons?"
"None. Only humans."
"Maybe they are in hiding. "
"You just said humans haven't discovered much of the ocean, oceanic beasts and mermaids can definitely still exist on earth."
"And there are too many myths and legends about them for them to not be rooted in some kind of fact."
Seeing Cale nodding to himself in self satisfaction as he explained his reasoning, Roksoo didn't have the heart to tell him that the world went to hell with the apocalypse and any creatures in hiding had their chance to strike already.
It was only after he had realized his feelings that Roksoo understood why he tended to make comments that got Cale curious and he started to ramble animatedly as he dissected everything he learned with sparkling, gleeful eyes.
He also finally figured out why he had felt extremely annoyed at Choi Han when the swords master had interrupted them once and offered to answer Cale instead so that he could rest. It was for his own benefit and yet he had ended up unconsciously glaring at the poor guy instead.
"Can you teach me to curse in Korean?"
" ... No."
"Not even a little?"
"You just want to curse at Choi Han in his native language. "
All he got in response was an unrepentant smile. The reddish eyes sparkling with mischief were dangerous for his heart.
"..... alright. "
Roksoo let out a long suffering but extremely fond sigh as Cale clapped his hands once and beamed at him, sending a mental apology to Choi han.
As they went from acquaintances to friends to lovers. Roksoo would often stare at Cale fondly, while answering all his questions every single time. Filing away all of his reactions in his records. Deeming them too precious to be left unrecorded.
Years later, It was that very first curiosity, that had led Cale to leave on a secret quest to a small, unnamed village in a remote corner of the eastern continent.
All to surprise his now fiance as he caught wind of the presence of a certain food item, Roksoo had mentioned and personally went to retrieve it.
Alone.
Without informing anyone.
Intend on surprising Roksoo with familiar food he might not even realize he missed. Cale gave one of his family's mages his required coordinates and teleported away, sending him back and only keeping a teleportation scroll as his way back.
To keep the people involved to a minimum and not spoil his plan, Cale had sneaked out of his home early in the morning with the help of Roan, who teleported him to the Henituse estate without any questions as per his request.
Then sneaked out of his room to look for a mage after having spend some time with his family to not be suspicious.
For the people in the black castle, Cale was at the Henituse estate.
For the people in the Henituse estate, Cale was in his room.
Only the mage knew where Cale truly was and had been bribed with more than sufficient gold coins to keep quiet.
Anyone who truly knew Cale can attest to three facts about him.
- He was curious by nature.
- He loved a lot and with his entire being.
- Cale Henituse made dumb, dumb decisions when it came to his loved ones.