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“Why would we forage?” Cypar asked, voice echoing off the walls of their room at the inn. “We're in town. I can buy us dinner.”
“We need to think about what we'll eat when we leave town again. Preserving what we can before we leave is for the best,” Delos said. “Planning ahead is what adults do.”
“I'm an adult!” Cypar raised his voice, missing the dig that Delos had made at him but still getting angry about it regardless. “I'll buy rations. It's easier.”
“It's a needless expense.”
“It's my money.”
Delos sighed. “I'll be back in time to make dinner. Anli and Mishe should be back by then. Sen will be awake by then too.” As for Heigl, Delos couldn't say. He insisted on having his own room. “Don't make trouble.”
He started to head toward the door.
“No way!”
Cypar broke into a sprint to try and run ahead of Delos, but all it did was allow them to meet in the door's narrow entryway. Delos, who was already under the arch of the door, was caught by surprise as Cypar bumped into his shoulder. The force wasn't great, but it was sudden enough that it threw Delos off balance and sent him tumbling forward.
He stepped forward and shot out his hand to re-balance himself, but the hallway was wide enough that he failed to catch the wall and landed on his knees against the floor instead.
A sharp pain shot through his knees, coursed through his arm, and ripped up his spine. It was brief but the shock left him temporarily paralyzed. He screwed his eyes shut as he allowed the pain to pass.
“Can you move?” Cypar’s voice came from below.
Delos opened his eyes, only to find himself face-to-face with a red-faced Cypar. It seemed that, in his fall, he had managed to catch Cypar but stopped himself from crushing the slightly smaller man.
Cypar’s violet-blue eyes twinkled with growing annoyance as Delos continued to lie on top of him. He was caged in by Delos’ thick arms, unable to roll out of the position he found himself in but not brazen enough to shove someone who was supposed to be his companion off unceremoniously.
“Move,” Cypar repeated, distress seeping into his words at the awkward position the two were in.
“Sorry,” Delos said as he tried to push himself up.
But he stopped as pain ricocheted through his muscles and down to his bones. It didn't feel like he had broken anything but he may have sprained something at least.
Delos sighed. “We may be here for a while. Until I can move, at least.”
Cypar grumbled. He pressed his hand against Delos' chest and tried to push him off, but Delos was heavier than he expected. Cypar didn't consider himself weak, but Delos was muscular.
He dropped his hand in defeat. “Fine.”
The position was getting more awkward by the moment. Cypar's face felt hot and that same heat was spreading to his chest and filling his blood. If anyone saw him beneath Delos like this, he swore he would die.
Unlike him, Delos appeared to be unaffected, merely squinting each time he tried to move and realized the pain had yet to subside.
But each time Delos grunted, it hit Cypar’s ear differently. It was deep and guttural, unconcerned with how beastial it sounded. The sound ran through his body the same way the heat was and his own body began to respond in turn. It was subconscious.
They both laid on the floor like that for several minutes before Delos was finally able to get up without discomfort.
He reached his hand down to Cypar, offering to help him up.
Cypar sat up without taking Delos’ hand.
“I'm good,” he said.
“Okay.” Delos withdrew his hand without an argument. “Are you still planning to spend money when you don't need to?”
Cypar grumbled out, “I'll get dinner later. You do whatever.”
Delos wasn't going to question his sudden mood change. Cypar was prone to wearing his heart on his sleeve.
“Don't forget to order enough food for Anli, Mishe, and Heigl.”
“I wouldn't forget about Anli and Mishe!”
“And Heigl?”
Cypar grumbled again.
“I'll be back,” Delos said as he walked past Cypar and vanished down the hallway.
Cypar stood up only once he was sure Delos had left. He walked himself into the room and shut the door behind him, dragging himself into bed. The cool covers fell over him and he shut his eyes as he tried to ignore the heat that was gathered between his legs.
If he ignored it, it would go away eventually. As soon as he stopped recalling the position he had just been in and the sounds he had heard.