Chapter Text
“Kellam?” Stahl says in the empty room in the northwest corner of the fort. “...Kellam.” Stahl walks around the room, stepping around bags of flour and barrels of salted meats. “I swore I saw him come in here…” He stops pacing, and sighs. Turning around, he bumps into someone in the hall. “Ah-! Sorry, my bad. I was just looking for Kellam-?” His eyes widen as he sees a broad youth with small eyes and short hair looking at him.
“Why were you looking for me?”
“Oh! Kellam! Hey, where were you? I thought you were on duty here.”
“I am. Or rather, I was. Someone else was supposed to come in and… Well, I heard him complaining that no one was in the room while I was checking stock of what we have as I was asked to. I’m worried that Frederick is gonna chew me out for this.” He gets a worried expression. “But he rarely gets angry at me for this so long as I bring whatever I had to fill out.” He holds up a sheet of paper with a list of the different food that was kept in the storage room, with numbers checked off.
“Oh, alright. Well, if he does get angry, I’ll back you up!” Stahl makes an awkward laugh.
“Uh… Yeah.” Kellam scratches the back of his head with his right hand.
“...Say, what uh… Are you free later?”
“When do you mean by ‘later’?”
“Uh… Right after dinner. You know, when everyone not on duty gets a bit of a break.”
“Oh, yeah. Yeah, I am. Why are you asking?”
“Uh… No reason. Just wondering.” Stahl looks to the left, away from Kellam.
“Stahl, are you okay?” Kellam steps to the side, to get in Stahl’s view. “You seem tense.”
“Oh, I’m fine! I’m just… I’m thinking about something…”
“Like what?”
“Well…” Stahl takes a deep breath. “What do you think about… Cordelia and the other girls?”
“...Are you asking me for dating advice?”
“A-Ah! No! Kind of? Well, not really but…” Stahl makes a forced, hoarse laugh. “Heh heh hoo boy… How do I explain this…” He goes a bit red.
“...Are you too embarrassed to ask?”
Did… Did his tone just drop? Maybe that means… No, you’re imagining it. He’s not… Well… “I… I’m too embarrassed to ask someone to… Yeah,” he says, looking to the right.
“Well, I’m not the best for…” Kellam stops. “...Who’s the girl?” Stahl freezes up.
“...Wh-Who is she… Hah… Well… Geez, is it hot in here or-?”
“You don’t need to be afraid to say it, Stahl. I’m your friend, I can handle it.”
“...It’s… It’s you, Kellam.” Stahl looks down at his feet, his face completely red.
“...Oh.”
“...Sorry to drop this on you all of a sudden, I just… I couldn’t hold it in anymore.” Stahl looks up at Kellam, looking at his face which was turning red as well. “I… Well, I can just. We can forget about this if it’s weird, sorry.”
“Stahl.”
“Y-Yes?”
“...I was gonna ask you the same thing tomorrow.” Kellam makes a small chuckle. “That’s… Well, that’s a load off of my shoulders.” He smiles.
“You… You mean… Oh gods, this is… This is great!” Stahl smiles wide, and holds Kellam tight.
“W-Woah, easy there!”
“A-Ah! Sorry, I just got… I got a little carried away there.” Stahl forces a chuckle.
“...I guess we could…” Kellam goes red again.
“‘We could’...?”
“...You know… Kiss?”
“Ah… We can try that.” Stahl goes red again. He breathes deep, and looks at Kellam. Closing his eyes, he brings his right hand up to Kellam’s hair, and his left on the knight’s back. Kellam puts his hands around the cavalier’s back, and they push their lips against each other, with a soft amount of force. Eventually, their faces part, and they stare at each other.
“...That was… That was great.” Stahl smiles wide.
“Yeah… It really was.” Kellam chuckles.