Work Text:
“Still up and about, eh?”
Will almost jumped. The voice was familiar; a low murmur, softly accented, that always sounded dubious even when its owner was being genuine. But he hadn’t expected to hear it now, so long after moonrise in the newly-named village of Eht Ria, hours after throwing his and Gallica’s wishes to the flames. Flames which had now consumed their effigy entirely, sending the dragon-shape plunging into a roaring heap.
“I was just heading in,” he explained idly, turning back. Sure enough, leant up against the inn-cabin’s outside wall, his eyes met catlike yellow. They narrowed just a little.
“Fair enough,” Fidelio pushed off it, folding his arms in a way that almost might have passed for nonchalant. Almost. “I’m turnin’ in too; got Bas waitin’ for me already.” He paused for just the tiniest moment too long. “But I wanted to see you first.”
It was hard not to feel nervous around him, even now; especially now, with the plan up in the air. But Will did his best. “Sure,” he said quietly. “What did you want to talk about?”
“I’ve just been thinkin’…” Fidelio’s voice softened just a little. “I don’t think I ever actually thanked you, for savin’ me an’ all that.” A little laugh escaped his throat, low and dry. “I mean, bringin’ Saint Rella out ‘ere, just for me? I know you had a hand in that, no matter what Lady Junah says.”
Will let out a laugh of his own, feeling the tension ease a little. “Was that genuine gratitude?” he teased. “I never thought I’d hear that from you.”
“Hey; don’t get wise with me,” the shorter man warned sharply. “I’m puttin’ some cards on the table here; what’s so hard to believe about that, eh?”
Will wisely chose to stay quiet, giving a noncommittal shrug. So Fidelio went on, stepping closer again. “Look,” he began again, face setting in something unreadable, “right now, I feel like I owe you one, and that’s not a feelin’ I’m much used to. So it doesn’t have to mean anythin’; if anythin’, I’d prefer it didn’t; but right now, I want to make it up to you somehow.”
One shoe scuffed the ground. “God, listen to me; talkin’ too much, aren’t I?” Another step; he was properly close now, almost too close, enough that Will was starting to feel just a little crowded. “Ah, damn it; c’mere.”
And then it happened. Before Will could even react Fidelio moved, with all the same swiftness he’d shown when the sea monster attacked. And before Will could even think or a response, he was pressed up against the wall behind him. And before Will could even understand what was happening, there were hands on his, holding him there, and then a pressure and a warmth against his lips.
Fidelio was… kissing him. Kissing hard. And holding him pinned to the wall, despite how much smaller he was, with enough strength that Will wasn’t sure if he could have broken free. But then… did he want to?
This had come from nowhere, out of the blue, the kind of crazy thing that could only happen in the small hours under the stars. And it was so unlike Fidelio to show any scrap of affection, to anyone besides his brother, let alone to go as far as this. And yet, as his mind caught up, those weren’t really what Will found himself thinking of.
Instead, he could only see how Fidelio’s tail was twitching; and how his face was scrunched-tight and flushed-deep; and how he was perched on the very tips of his toes, just to bring their lips into line. And all he could think was that despite it all, there was something strangely adorable about all of those things, and something just-as-strangely fulfilling about the feeling as the older man almost-desperately held him there.
So he took as much of a breath as he could, and let his eyes fall closed, and kissed back. And for one long moment, under the stars, that was all there was.
But the moment couldn’t last. At last, hungry for air, Fidelio pulled back. And as quickly as they’d come, those hands and those lips were gone, and Will found himself missing the warmth as they went.
For a moment, he still stood there; Fidelio was the one to step back, away from the wall, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand as-if his companion’s taste was as vile as human venom. And then he fixed Will with a yellow glare, despite the flush still deep-set in his cheeks.
“You tell anyone about that and you’re dead, understand?” he demanded, bristling. “They won’t find what’s left of you.”
“I understand…” Will breathed, still coming down off the high. “But… thanks, Del, genuinely. I… I enjoyed that.”
“Hmph.” Fidelio looked away, eyes shining in the moonlight. “Fair enough. But don’t you start callin’ me that now, alright? You’re not my brother, and like I said before, this don’t change anythin’ between us, alright? I just…”
His gaze bored into the floor, words failing for the first time since Will had known him. “I wanted you to know. In case.”
“In case,” Will agreed, giving him a little nod of reassurance. And maybe Fidelio still scoffed at it, but it was definitely a little softer than usual. “I hope you can get some sleep, now.”
“Same to you,” Fidelio murmured. And then, just as quickly as he’d come, he turned to slip back into the night, off to stew on everything that he’d just allowed to happen. And maybe Will shouldn’t have let him go, after that, but he decided to anyway.
Because maybe his companion hadn’t wanted it to change anything. And maybe, in the long run, against Louis and everything else, it wouldn’t. But things definitely weren’t quite the same between them, now, not anymore.
And maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.