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It's been quite a few years since Grace was in college, and boy let me tell ya that was a wild time! He may have been studying micro biology but he knew quite a few chemistry majors and those guys knew how to party.
But aside from all the crazy things he got up too, a much tamer activity he indulged in was DnD, good ol dungeons and dragons. Did that make him your stereotypical geek? Sure! Did he care? No not really. Dnd was alluring for a variety of reasons, the imagination, the magic, the togetherness of a good session.
After his first ever game, hosted and dm'ed by his best friend Rocky, Grace found himself in love with fantasy as much as he was sci-fi, (and thinking about the science behind magic was always a fun thought excersise.)
Today was his twenty-ninth birthday, well technically it was yesterday but he and Colt switched who celebrated first every year since their interests were so different, so the actual day of was spent white water rafting beacause Colt was an adrenaline junkie, and last year they went to the museum first since it had been Grace's turn.
So! That means today was Grace's half of their birthday celebration and his friends had surprised him with.....(drum roll please)...A ren faire trip! And to make it even more special they made costumes from their first ever campaign together!
Rocky as their de facto dm had dressed as the halfling paladin he often used as a reoccurring character, Ryland was dressed as his first ever dnd character an aasimar cleric with small white wings, Adrian Rocky's spouse was dressed as their tiefling rouge, horns and all, with a lovely mint green body paint that would probably be hell to wash off later, Colt who at first had to be bribed to join the game (and then proceeded to fall in love with it don't let him tell you otherwise) was dressed as an elven bard, and Colt's fiancé Jody was dressed as the human warlock she played in their most recent game, since sadly she wasn't around when they first started playing. All of the costumes were game accurate to, it was incredible! Down to the necklace with a white feather pendant Grace's character had gotten in one of the last games of that campaign! (His friends knew he was sentimental like that, and yeah he cried a little when they first showed him the costume, it was so sweet!)
How they managed to make an entire costume that fit him without him knowing about it? Especially one with this much detail? Very good question Grace doesn't know either. There wasn't anymore time to think about that though, the car just stopped and the party is ready for adventure!
"You excited for nerd fest Ry?" Colt said, punching Grace lightly in the shoulder with a teasing smirk, "I'm pretty sure this is the most hype for a crowded event I've ever seen you!"
He was right usually Grace hated crowds but the energy in the air, the amazing costumes he could see all around him, the pure joy on every guests face, it erased every thought saying he looked silly or out of place.
"C'mon Colt you're excited too and you know it!" Grace shot back with a grin, "Besides no matter what you say you're as much a nerd as I am!".
"It's true hun you totally are." Jody called out from where she, Rocky, and Adrian had walked ahead of the twins. Colt sputtered in mock offense before lightly shoving Grace's shoulder and dragging him along to catch up with their group.
The next few hours were spent laughing, looking through different booths, getting asked for pictures, and feeling so light and content with the people that cared for him that it felt like Grace was on top of the world.
"Time for the party to take a short rest!" Rocky calls out, they had all started feeling a bit tired and hungry after all the walking so a rest sounded perfect.
"The party?" Questions Adrian, " my love you aren't the dm today, you're a paladin remember?" The teasing was light and the softness in their tone unmistakable, Rocky gazed back at them just as adoring.
"Okay love birds, we're here for food remember?" Grace teases.
"Right! Food quest!" Rocky shakes himself out of his revery, and they wander to a food stall where they also seem to be selling home brewed mead. Grace had never tried mead before and was undeniably curious.
"Anyone want to try mead with me?"
A yes from Colt and surprisingly Adrian, they weren't much of a drinker, then again neither was Grace. Jody and Rocky decided to just try a sip from Colt and Adrians glasses respectively but didn't want their own.
When their food and drink were delivered they found a nice spot to sit and eat together, the food was delicious but everyone was nervous to try the mead.
Finally Grace cheered "For science!" And downed quite a bit of the mead at once, Colt and Adrien following suit. And it was good! It was sweet and sparkling, it tasted like honey and maybe orange blossoms? Whatever that note of citrus was it was amazing!
The whole group seemed to enjoy it which was nice, but after finishing his glass Grace was maybe a bit tipsy, either he was more of a light weight than he thought or this mead was pretty strong, it was probably some kind of combination of the two. Either way Grace, Adrian, and Colt found themselves feeling loose and warm, a cozy buzz that lingered, almost like being wine drunk. Nothing too crazy but definitely noticeable.
They were walking through the faire again though at a much more sedate pace than earlier, Grace and Adrian giggling to themselves over nothing in particular with Rocky keeping an eye on them both, and Colt and Jody walking arm in arm just a bit ahead of the group talking quietly between themselves. Before Jody got the groups attention with a loud clap of her hands.
"Guys look! There's a jousting competition! It starts in a few minutes, should we go?" She drew their attention to a poster hanging on the nearby wall with the location, date, time, and a picture of a knight on horse back. It sounded fun so the group decided "hey, might as well right?" And made their way to the jousting grounds.
"So how does jousting work?" Rocky whispered to Grace as they find nice seats right at the front.
"How should I know Rock? I've never been to a ren faire much less a jousting competition!"
"Well-" Rocky was going to continue their banter but before he could, a horn sounded and the knights began to ride onto the field with the thunderous crash of hooves on the ground as the crowd roared their approval, Rocky was shaking Grace's shoulder in excitement, But Grace wasn't really paying attention as the knights lined up in the middle of the arena their silver armor gleaming proudly, he noticed something.
"Blue, yellow, green, orange, purple. Thats only five knights. Shouldn't a tournament have an even number of people?" Grace mumbled to himself in confusion, the residule mead making his thoughts slow and syrupy,""the seating arrangements are color coded to the knights and we're sitting in the red box but, there isn't a red knight."" Grace thought to himself, he was about to turn to the others and point that out when he was interrupted.
"KNIGHTS, CHOOSE YOUR MAIDENS!" Came a loud announcement from only god knows where. As the knights broke off from their line to their respective boxes choosing a lady in the front row and kneeling in front of her, they each grabbed colored scarves that had been tied around their arms that matched the colors of the plumes on their helmets and tunics they were wearing under their armor. And presented them to their chosen maidens, it was an amazing part of the show, everyone was smiling, the chosen girls were blushing and squealing with their friends, each lady took the offered token and presented the knights with pieces of their costumes like bangles and necklaces. A token of their favour.
It was a sweet tradition and Grace just knows those girls in the audience had their days made. It made him smile to see people so happy and excited, in fact he was so caught up in the warm fuzziness of it that he had almost completely forgotten about his little observation earlier.
The music changed suddenly, going from a triumphant fantasy sound track to a dark and foreboding tune complete with an organ and the crash of thunder, a new knight ran in and immediately arrested everyone's attention. The lone knight was wearing armor that was pitch black and shone like an oil slick in the bright afternoon light, a stark contrast to the silver armor of the other performers, the plume on his helmet was a bloody crimson that matched the scarf tied to his armor and his tunic, a perfect match to the banners sitting in the box along with Grace and his friends.
While Grace knew it was a part of the show it still scared him a bit when the other knights drew swords from their belts that he hadn't noticed before.
"What is your purpose here dark knight!, You shall not ruin this show!" Shouted the knight in blue, echoed by his companions.
"I've come to compete! This is my right as a knight of this realm!" Boomed the dark knight his sword sheathed and his posture relaxed like he didn't have a care in the world. "It is against the laws of these lands to deny me entrance to the games, if you and your compatriots are so challenged by my presence meet me in the ring and let us settle this like men! You may just learn why they call me the butcher."
His voice was a rich baritone that seemed to cut through the air, the metal helmet and visor doing nothing to mute his challenge. The other knights began to lower their swords.
"What say the crowd!" A knight called, "should we allow this scoundrel a chance for glory?!" Only to be met with explosive cheering and applause.
"All right dark knight, you may participate in this joust." The blue knight decided, seemingly playing the leader of the little group, "choose your maiden, so we may go about defeating you." He said, smug, making the audience crow and roar.
The black knight nodded and turned his gaze in the direction of the red box, climbing down from his horse, and striding over to the front row without hesitation, beelining to Grace's group.
He assumed the knight would stop in front of Jody or Adrian, It would have been kind of funny seeing them embarrasssd over it and seeing Colt or Rocky get a bit jealous, but instead the knight breezed right past them and knelt in front of Grace, who's face had already been warm from the mead but now felt like it could boil water, The knight tugged the scarf from his arm and presented it to him.
Grace glanced around him looking for who the knight might really be kneeling for before he realized it actually was him of all people.
"May I ask for your favour?" The knight drawled, completely ignoring how flustered Grace had become.
"UM, uh, Sure!" Grace stuttered out, probably way too loud, grabbing the scarf on auto pilot and panicking for half a second on what to hand to the knight. He glanced to his friends for help but they seemed just as shocked as he was, until he noticed Adrien pointing at their own chest and remembered the feather pendant he was wearing. Quickly handing it over.
The knight took the pendant from Grace with one hand, but with the other he flipped up his visor and brought Grace's hand to his lips kissing the back of his knuckles gently. When he looked up Grace was struck dumb, not only because of the kiss, but because he was looking into the prettiest brown eyes he had ever seen, they were almost black like the void of space, but they carried such intense emotion it stole Grace's breath. ""This guy is one hell of an actor."" Grace thinks, dazed.
The knight rises to his feet like nothings happened, like he didn't just alter Grace's brain chemistry with a single interaction, and slipped the pendant over his helmet the white feather contrasting beautifully against the dark armor and crimson accents.
"Cheer for me angel, my lance strikes in your name." Said the dark knight with a smoldering gaze and a wink. Before flipping down his visor, walking back to his horse, and continuing the show.
Grace was left still gaping like a fish, his already inebriated brain could barely function, but this!? His brain might as well have melted out of his ears!, He looked over to his group, they were all dead silent, before seeing the look on his face and bursting into laughter.
"Guys why are you laughing!" Grace whined, "I'm literally actually gonna die!" He said before burying his bright red face into his hands.
"Oh come on Grace You're ok! It wasn't as bad as you think." Adrien said calmly, despite the words being a bit slurred, the comfort was always nice. However any peace grace received from their words was quickly negated by Rocky and Colt still laughing at him.
"Amaze amaze amaze! I've never seen you turn that color!" Rocky teased. Still trying to catch his breath.
"Yeah Ry, "um, uh, sure" was real eloquent!" Colt wheezed. Before being gently flicked in the forehead by Jody.
Jody leaned over to him, "Are you going to ask for his number after the show?" She questioned gently, any red that might have faded from Grace's face quickly settled there once again at the question.
"I can't! Thats so creepy! Thats like asking out a waitress or waiter while they're at work, they have to be nice to you! Which makes it harder for them to say no!" Grace panicked, "I refuse to be one of those people!"
"Ry, I didn't see any of those other knights kiss the hand of an audience member." Colt stated when he finally stopped laughing.
Grace wanted the ground to swallow him so he could get the heck out of this conversation.
"Every body just watch the show!"
""Very smooth subject change Ryland."" He thought sarcastically. Shifting his attention back to the performance.
The first two knights jousting were green and yellow, technically they had all been introduced with actual names and titles but Grace hadn't been paying attention, heck even if he had been it's likely he would've forgotten anyway. He couldn't get the red knights look out of his head, much less "angel" he was getting flustered just thinking about it.
The yellow knight ended up winning the first joust which probably would have been impressive had he actually been paying attention, his eyes found the dark knight again, only called some variation of that or "the butcher" no actual name. Grace found that he really wanted to learn the man's name.
The knight was sitting on a bench with the other performers and fiddling with Graces pendant, twirling it between his fingers, and much like the other knights his visor was raised so he could drink water, that armor was probably swelteringly warm especially in this hot humid weather. Grace noticed a scar on the left side of the mans face, a faded pink line running from the corner of his mouth and up into where the helmet conceals, Grace wanted to know how far it traveled, how he got it, anything the man would tell him. The knight looked up and caught Grace staring, he was about to look away in embarrassment before the knight brought the feather to his lips in an imitation of the kiss he had given Grace's hand, never breaking eye contact.
Grace felt his breath catch as he quickly looked away, and when he dared glance back the knight had looked back to the current joust between orange and purple. Still twirling the feather between his fingers a small smile on his face.
Finally the dark knight was set to go up against his first opponent the blue knight. The two performers faced eachother from opposite ends of the track, holding their lances at their sides. The black knight looked like menace personified, his shoulders squared, his weapon held steady, and as soon as the horn sounded he was charging forward lightning quick, the two knights managed to shatter their lances on each others shields, which from the cheering, Grace assumed was a good thing.
Both received new weaponry and went back to their starting positions, Grace was absolutely enraptured, he hoped his knight won. ""His" knight? You don't even know the mans name!"" He scolded himself. Then the horn sounded cutting into his thoughts, the knights clash once more and again both lances break.
The final run, Grace is so tense he can practically feel himself shaking, the knights charge, a deafening clang rings out followed by a thud, and a sudden hush falls over the crowd. The blue knight was pushed right off of his horse.
The crowd explodes into noise, cheering and yelling echoing out like fireworks and Grace had to be one of the loudest. He hadn't even noticed he stood up he was so excited, he looked to the red knight and found the kight looking back, in a moment of giddy delight Grace gave a small wave and a little smile, in response the knight waved back with one hand, his demeanor almost shy, as he clutched the feather in his other.
"Oooooooo you flirting with your champion Grace?" Rocky sing songs, snapping Grace out of his little staring contest with the knight.
"Hush up! Im just..happy for him! Cause he won!"
"Uh huh, whatever you say!"
Grace was doing everything in his power to not spontaneously combust, and from how warm his face felt he seemed to be failing miserably.
The tournament continued on like this, each joust would take three runs and the knights would score points while the crowd cheered. Until finally the tournament ended. Sadly the red knight didn't win but he was a close second! Grace was excited when he scored, scared for him in the moment before the collision, proud when he won a match, it was such an emotional roller-coaster that by the end Grace was buzzing with adrenaline and practically sober. The stranger may not know it but he's made this the most memorable birthday of Grace's life.
The knights returned their trinckets, took a bow for the crowd and rode out of the ring the same way they came, a thunderous cacophony that perfectly matched the beating of Graces heart.
Grace noticed that all the knights returned their favours before they left except for the red knight, was..was he hoping Grace would come find him to get the necklace back? Or was that wishful thinking and Grace just got robbed? Did he just forget?
He's really, really, hoping its the first one.
"Hey guys? I'm-I'm gonna go get my necklace back. Would you guys wait for me by the gates?" He tried not to stutter or seem too nervous he's been getting teased enough as is, but from the knowing looks his friends were shooting eachother he imagined it wouldn't stop anytime soon.
Now he was not a very brave man by nature, but he's still got some liquid courage in his system! (maybe if he tells himself that enough, it'll settle the anxiety in his stomach.) He wanders towards the back of the venue, where he can see two of the knights chatting, before he can even ask the green knight points to the left with a smirk on his face and the purple knight shoots him a very not subtle thumbs up which makes his face burn even more.
He shoots them a smile and turns the corner where he sees the dark knight still in his armor and still twisting the feather pendant around his fingers.
"Um - hi there!" Ryland ryland calls out, ""Hi there???? Are we serious????"" Grace thinks his embarrassment might actually kill him.
The knight seems to startle, the pendant falling from his hand as he turns around to face grace, his visor is raised again and those magnetic eyes lock onto grace taking all the words about to leave his mouth and turning them to ash. The knight finally removes his helmet and if there is a god out there he must hate Grace specifically because he is so Grace's type it's not even funny. And Grace just knows he's about to take his foot and stick it directly into his own mouth.
his dark hair is half up in a ponytail with small wisps escaping near his ears and bangs framing his face with the rest brushing over his shoulders, the scar on the left side of his face travels all the way to his ear and Grace wants to trace it with his fingers, his lips look as soft as they felt pressing a kiss to his skin, his eyes were still just beautiful as they were a few seconds ago but now that grace can see his entire face? They've lost exactly none of their intensity. Even better, the man was just a bit shorter than Grace, just enough that he had to look up ever so slightly when Grace approached. But he was still built like a brick wall.
"Hey there." The man says, his voice is even better up close, rough from the yelling and excitement of the day, it perfectly compliments his appearance all rugged and mysterious and Grace wants to swoon.
"Um, thank you for letting me use your necklace" the man looked at the ground his shoulders hunched and the tips of his ears dusted pink, it was the complete opposite of the smooth confident knight in the arena and it was also hopelessly endearing.
"No problem! It was really exciting to get picked for a tradition like that! Watching your matches was probably the highlight of my day." Grace smiled shyly, "Oh by the way my name's Ryland, Ryland Grace, most people call me Grace, so you can also call me that! Grace, I mean, I'm going to stop talking now!" Now would be the perfect time for a meteor to hit earth but as that had a very low probability of actually happening, Grace awkwardly stuck out his hand to shake instead.
Hesitantly the knight took Grace's hand.
"Simon, and I'm glad you liked the show." He had a pleased little smile a quiet pride shining in the way he stopped hunching his shoulders and looked Grace in the eye. "You probably want this back huh?" Simon began removing the necklace so he could return it but apparently Grace was possessed by a very confident ghost because before Simon could remove the pendant he said.
"Keep it! I noticed you liked fidgeting with it, not that I was watching you! I mean I was because obviously I was watching the show but like, not in a creep kind of way! And it looks really nice on you so you should wear it!"
Simon looked Grace in the eyes and smirked, letting the pendant fall back to his chest.
"Thanks angel, I appreciate that. Was this your first tournament?"
""Angel again????"" Ryland thought, flustered.
"Yep! My first ren faire too, my friends decided to bring me as a birthday gift! It's been great so far!" Talking about his friends calmed Grace a bit it was so nice to be able to say he had friends that cared when for a large chunk of his early life that just wasn't the case.
Simon's eyes seemed to light up, "I'm glad I could help make the celebration special, but uh, maybe I could take you out for a drink? Since it's your birthday and all." Simon almost seemed like he had been waiting for an opportunity to ask.
"I would love that!" Grace blurted. "You can come with me and my friends if your done for the day? I would love to get to know you better, if you'd be alright with that!" Grace hoped that his chronic need to over explain himself and yap for hours at a time didn't ruin this for him. Thankfully Simon seemed amused, and was still looking at Grace with a sweet smile and a soft look in his eyes that promised nothing but patience.
"Absolutely angel, we can head out whenever you're ready." Grabbing Grace's hand slowly and gently, waiting to see if he pulled away tilting his head slightly to the side like he was asking "is this okay?" The answer was a resounding yes as Grace intertwined their fingers just as gently, and they walked off into the afternoon to meet Grace's friends.