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The rain was loud on the woven reed roof above them, yet no drops leaked through. A mercy. Still, Alin shivered, having not quite managed to dodge all of the rainfall. Just most of it.
"Oh, come now, it's just a little rain," Erenville teased from his spot close to the blond viera. Alin narrowed bicoloured eyes at him in a scowl, though the soft smile about Erenville's lips did brighten his mood. Quite a lot, in fact.
"A little?" Alin echoed. "If they hadn't already told us about the storm that wrecked their village and the stairs, I'd think that we'd brought it with us." Erenville huffed a noise that was almost a laugh.
"It doesn't rain like this in Meracydia, then?" Erenville asked. Alin shook his head.
"Nope," said Alin. "What about in your home, does it rain like this there?" He grinned as Erenville glanced at the rain pelting down, then back at his boyfriend. Normally, when questioned about his true past, Erenville would make an excuse to leave. But now, trapped as he was by the rain, he had no choice but to answer.
"Sometimes," said Erenville with a shrug. "It is a desert, but when we do get storms, they are quite powerful." This, however, was no storm. Just extremely heavy rain, for a mercy. Not that Alin was scared of storms, he was just very aware of the fact that, aside from the shelter (possibly built for this very purpose), they were very much outdoors, which could prove quite fatal in a storm. Alin would know, having heard of one too many stories in his youth of viera going out in a storm or being caught in a storm and never coming home. Land slides, lightning strikes, fallen trees... anything could happen.
"A desert, huh?" said Alin. "Intriguing. And what desert might that be, hm?" Laughter danced in Erenville's eyes, though none made it past his lips.
"For someone who won't reveal much of his own past, you sure want to know mine," said Erenville.
"Maybe I'm just nosy," said Alin with a smile.
"That nosiness will get you into trouble someday," said Erenville. He shifted closer to Alin, who was still shivering, wrapping an arm around him.
"It always does," said Alin. "But alright, we've got time and nowhere to go. What do you want to know about my fine self?"
"Your ego is larger than Ttokerrone," said Erenville. Alin snorted.
"Okay, I get one more question, what the hell is that?" Alin asked, and was graced with a huff of a laugh.
"A large serpent-like monster from my homeland," said Erenville. "Many hunt it, in the way of elite mark hunters, yet it is rather more elusive. It is also rumoured to dine on capybaras, though that has not been proven."
"Damn, and here I thought the only large serpent there was your dick," said Alin. Erenville rolled his eyes and shoved him, Alin laughing and taking the moment to snatch at Erenville's gleaner backpack, which he had yet to take off. Before Erenville could snatch it back, Alin's quick hands had found a blanket which he wrapped around himself.
"You could have simply asked," said Erenville. Alin grinned.
"But then I wouldn't be riling you up," said Alin. "Dick jokes aside, have you ever seen it? Ttokerrone?"
"From a distance, yes," said Erenville. "My mother and I were out collecting rare minerals and plants and came across its tracks. I, being a clever little kit too curious for my own good, followed these tracks all the way to a great canyon. Fortunately, my mother has quick reflexes and snatched me back before it could catch a whiff of my scent. We ran home quite fast, though, and she made me swear to never try to track Ttokerrone again, for it loved to feast on the sweet flesh of naughty little kits who wandered off."
"Guess mothers are the same in many places," said Alin. Erenville inclined his head in a nod.
"And what was your mother like?" Erenville asked. Alin froze, heart thumping. "And no distracting me this time."
"Your mother's right, you are too clever for your own good," Alin muttered. He sighed. "Alright, fine, fine."
Erenville watched his boyfriend, arms folded over his chest. He didn't miss the way that Alin's ears and shoulders subtly drooped, drawing in on himself, fingers toying with the edge of the blanket. He wasn't sure when, exactly, he'd started paying enough attention to Alin to notice these little tells, but he didn't mind it. Not anymore.
"My mother always wanted a child to teach the ways of the forest," said Alin. "My father came back to visit from time to time, but she was always so sad when he left. So even when I started to feel that I should be following in his footsteps and going with him... I couldn't. Not if it meant being the cause of my mother's tears. So I stayed. I ignored what I knew in my heart was right and became the daughter she'd been so thrilled to have." He was picking at a loose thread on the blanket. "Like, I don't blame her, of course I don't, and I don't hate her for it or hold it against her just like I know she doesn't hate me or hold it against me for choosing to live my truth but..."
Erenville reached out and took hold of Alin's hand, something in his chest throbbing as Alin shot him a grateful look through teary eyes.
"And then Jaik left and I just- I couldn't anymore. I couldn't stay behind, not when my best friend left to pursue his dreams, to explore the world, to see what was out there. But I tried, I had to try, for my mother. So I was a dutiful warden of the forest, guarding it and walking Jaik to the border and fighting the urge to kiss him goodbye or throw myself at his feet and beg him to take me with him or cling on tight and never let him go. It broke something in me to turn my back on him and return back home. But I tried to hide it, you know, the way I do." That explained a lot. "So I went back home and tried to pretend that everything was fine, that half my heart hadn't just left the forest. And sure, there were hot guys who came by, guys to fuck and learn the ways of the world from. But none of them were him."
"May I interrupt?" Erenville asked.
"Please," said Alin, such earnestness in his gaze.
"If you loved Jaik so much... why are you not with him now? What changed?" Erenville asked.
"I met Anden," said Alin. "And meeting him, feeling what I felt... I knew that my love for Jaik was just a childhood crush. I still love him as a friend, obviously, but being stuck in a different world for a century and falling in love and watching that love be taken from you and then restored to you... it really puts things into perspective. Besides, when he looks at me, I can tell that he doesn't see me. Not the way you and Thancred and Anden do. You see past the bullshit façade I put up. And you're not afraid to sit with me in it."
"I have heard some say that it takes one to know one," said Erenville. "That saying seems rather appropriate here, no?"
"Takes a bullshitter to know one, yeah," said Alin, a smile quirking his lips. "Anyway, eventually I did have to break my mother's heart and leave. It broke my heart too, but fuck, it felt good to live as myself. And so I set off in search of Jaik and eventually found him after a long and winding journey."
"And here we are," Erenville concluded.
"Here we are," Alin agreed. He smiled at Erenville, then, one that reached his eyes. "Thanks for making me say all that. I couldn't exactly tell Jaik the whole truth, and Thancred's never asked. I did tell Anden, but that was a while ago."
"It seems as though we have some things in common, then," said Erenville. "A fraught relationship with our mo- oh, look, the rain has stopped." Alin narrowed his eyes at him, but, sure enough, the skies had cleared up. "We should leave before it starts up again."
"Yeah, you're right," said Alin. He would let Erenville get away with it this time, but he would find out what secrets his boyfriend was keeping about his mother. One way or another.