![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seikilosTitle: An Introductory Course on How to Be a Boyfriend
Fandom: Tales of Graces f
Genre: AU/Humour/Romance
Rating & Warnings: G
Words: 3623
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Graces f.
Summary: Asbel and Richard have confessed their feelings to each other and are now boyfriends. The only problem is, Asbel has no idea what being a boyfriend actually consists of.
Author's Notes: I wrote this quite a while ago, and I was hoping to get it posted in time for Richass Week on tumblr, but obviously that didn't happen. Whoops.
This follows immediately after To See His Smile, but it isn't necessary to have read it to understand what's going on in this.
Asbel Lhant had been awake for a grand total of forty-five minutes that morning and already the day was shaping up to be the best one he'd had in weeks.
It was all because of Richard—or, rather, him and Richard. Who knew this love stuff could be so exciting? He'd always thought it sounded pretty boring, but last night, after he'd realised he was actually in love with Richard on top of being best friends, and he had told him all about it? Oh man, he'd barely been able to sleep. He'd almost sneaked out of the house to go run around outside, he'd been so wound up.
And that hadn't stopped when he'd woken up this morning, either. Neither he nor Richard could stop smiling every time they caught each other's eyes. Heck, even hearing Richard say, "Please pass the scrambled eggs" was terrific, especially since he nabbed the plate for himself afterwards.
He was getting a lot of confused looks from Hubert and Mom. His dad outright accused him of planning something (which was totally unfair—he hadn't pulled any real pranks for practically a week).
Even Sophie noticed. At breakfast, she'd put her head to one side and had stated, "You and Richard look happy, Asbel. Did something good happen?"
He'd grinned, nudged Richard with his elbow (and grinned more at the resulting smile), and had replied, "Yeah, you bet!"
"What is it?"
"Tell you later, all right?"
That had seemed good enough for Sophie; she'd gone back to eating with an "All right."
Once breakfast was over and he and Richard were out of earshot of his dad, he asked, "Hey, do you wanna go to Lhant Hill again?" He was going to make sure their next trip together was way better than the last one. He didn't want Richard to have bad memories about their own special place, after all.
Richard look as though he were considering it hard—but then he sighed. "I'd love to, but I really should get some of my studies out of the way. I'm sorry."
That was Richard for you: he could be just as serious as Hubert sometimes. But it was fine.
"No problem," Asbel assured him. "I've got some stuff I need to do anyway. I'll see you later, all right?"
"Do you want to study together?" Richard offered. "I'm sure time would go by much faster if we did."
"Thanks, but I spent the whole afternoon yesterday reading." He gave a little laugh. "I'm not doing that again anytime soon."
"You did?" Richard stared at him. "Really?"
"Yeah, one of Mom's pirate books. They're pretty good—you should give 'em a try sometime. Just don't let her know you know about 'em. She thinks they're a secret."
"I, um, see." Richard looked as if something was kind of weird. But then the look went away and he said, "Maybe later. I should really start studying."
"Sure thing."
Asbel nearly gave him a wave and headed off as usual—but he was a boyfriend now. He was supposed to do boyfriend things, right? Maybe he didn't have a lot of ideas at the moment, but there was one thing he knew Richard liked ever since he'd gotten used to it: getting hugged (by him, anyway. Probably not by Dad, though).
And so Asbel slung his arms around Richard and gave him a squeeze. "See you soon!"
He grinned when Richard hugged him back with a big smile. "Yes, see you soon!"
Once he'd disentangled himself, then it was time for the wave-and-head-off deal. There. He'd have this boyfriend thing down in no time.
Which was good, because that was his only problem with his brand new relationship: He didn't actually know how to be a boyfriend.
He knew how to be Richard's friend, sure. He even knew how to be his best friend. He was pretty darn awesome at it, if you asked him. And he knew how to be Richard's knight, too. But how was he supposed to be Richard's boyfriend?
He knew one thing boyfriends were supposed to do—there was that rhyme after all. ("Asbel and Richard sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!") But, well . . . he didn't know how he felt about kissing Richard. He'd tried imagining it a couple of times last night while he was trying to fall asleep, and it had been—weird. Not bad, he didn't think, but just . . . weird.
There were probably lots of other boyfriendy things he could do while he figured that one out, though, and that was why he was heading into Lhant. He needed to discover exactly what they were.
He'd decided last night that watching the couples in Lhant was his best bet in figuring stuff out. He'd considered his mom's books again, but while there was a lot of rescuing people from evil pirates that he could definitely do, there was also a lot of deep, searing kisses (probably not), running fingers through each other's tresses (. . . maybe? Richard did have great hair), and bosoms (hilarious, weird, and not something he needed to worry about). They weren't going to be much help.
The people of Lhant, now—they were a lot better. And hey! He'd only been out for five minutes, tops, and he'd already found his first pair of targets.
And those targets . . . were Melody and Ailynn. There they were, crossing the square, hand in hand. (Damn, he should have borrowed his dad's binoculars.) Okay. It was great that he'd spotted them, but that was no good. Holding hands was what everyone did all the time.
Except wait. The way they were holding hands was kind of different, wasn't it? It wasn't the same as when he was trying to drag Hubert somewhere. Instead, their fingers were all folded together.
He looked down at his own hands. Yeah, he bet Richard would like that. . . . Actually, to be honest, he'd like it, too.
Okay, he already had his first idea. Sweet. Now to see what other material Melody and Ailynn could—
"Hey, what's up, bro?"
"Gah!" Asbel stumbled back and nearly fell on his butt. "Raph, don't do that!"
The younger boy gave him his best dirty look. It kind of needed practice, though. "It's not my fault you were off in La-La Land." He shrugged: no hard feelings. "So what are you doing?"
. . . Was he ready to share the news with Raph? Maybe he'd better wait until he had the boyfriend thing mastered first. He'd look more impressive that way.
And so he said, "Nothing. Just going for a walk. You know, getting lots of fresh air." He took in a deep breath to illustrate.
Raph gave him a weird look—and then abruptly, he grinned. "I get it. You're probably scoping the place out for some epic prank, am I right?"
Huh? "What? No, I'm on a walk." Geez, where did he get that idea from?
Raph's grin grew. "Sure thing, bro. Whatever you say. Just let me know if you need any help, all right?" He sauntered away.
"But I'm not planning anything!" Asbel yelled after him, only to receive a laugh in response.
Man, what was wrong with Raph, anyway? Couldn't a guy go for a walk in his own hometown without getting accused of being up to something?
He looked around for Melody and Ailynn, but of course they were long gone. Darn it, Raph!
He surveyed the area again, but the only pair he could find were the old couple who lived just a little way from Cheria. He wasn't sure how much use they'd be—did old people even do boyfriend and girlfriend stuff? —but he figured they were worth watching until someone better came along.
And what did you know? Like two seconds later, when they got to the stairs leading down into the main square, the old lady stuck out her arm for the old guy to help him down.
Asbel considered that. Maybe it was just the sort of thing old people did, but maybe it'd make a nice change from hand-holding all the time. He'd have to test it out and see what Richard thought. But the very least, it'd show he was creative. That'd be impressive for sure, right? Right.
. . . Erk, they were looking at him. Time for the old hands-in-pocket-and-whistle routine. He was just an ordinary kid, out on a walk. Nothing to see here, nope.
"Hey, Asbel!"
He didn't jump this time . . . but it was close.
He glanced over to see—hang on, had they been there the whole time? —Violet, Toby, and Eline taking a break from skipping rope.
"Uh, hi guys." Asbel headed on over.
"What're you up to?" Violet asked. She grinned, just like Raph. "Is it good?"
"I'm out on a walk!" Was it seriously that hard to believe?
"That's boring," Toby said, sounding disappointed.
Violet, however, wasn't put off. "Come on, you can tell us. I swear we won't give it away—right?"
"Right!"
"Never!"
Okay, this was getting annoying. "I already said, I'm on a walk. Geez, Violet, at least pretend you know how to listen or something."
Violet dropped her end of the skipping rope to fold her arms. "Geez yourself! You don't need to be rude! I bet whatever you're planning is boring, anyway."
"I'm not planning anything!"
"Whatever, Asbel." Violet turned her back on him; Toby and Eline copied her. "Go have fun on your 'walk.'"
"Rrgh, fine! I will!" He stomped off in a random direction—anywhere that Violet wasn't seemed like a great place to be right now.
By the time he'd reached the bridge, though, he'd cooled down a lot. Actually, come to think of it, the fact that four of his friends all thought he was up to something was kinda funny. Heh. Maybe he should think up a really good prank for later. That wouldn't be such a bad idea. . . .
But he was getting distracted. He needed to focus on the amazingly important job at hand: making Richard happy.
His stomach growled.
. . . Uh, right after he had a snack. Good thing that apple tree was so close, right?
He crossed the bridge and headed down the path. Now he needed just needed avoid that weird—
"Oh, hey there, cutie!"
. . . girl who lived nearby. Drat.
Asbel didn't even bother to look at her. He only offered an extremely unenthusiastic, "Hey," and kept on moving.
Unfortunately, that girl was harder to pry off than a field's worth of burdocks, and she moved right along with him. "Where's your handsome friend?" She gasped. "He isn't sick, is he?"
If he could make it to the tree, maybe he could climb it and escape that way.
Just a little farther. . . .
"He's studying."
Almost at the tree. . . . He could see the guard posted at the gate leading to the port. It was Dirk on duty today, and he was wearing a sympathetic look. Dirk obviously knew alllll about this one.
"Ooh, brains and beauty!" Asbel heard a clap. She was probably folding her hands together. Again. "He's going to be a real catch for someone someday!"
And there was the apple tree. As soon as he had his snack, he was beating the fastest retreat in the history of Lhant.
"Hey, Dirk," he called out, totally ignoring the girl. "Think you could pass me an apple?"
"Sure, Asbel." Dirk smiled at him. "Just a minute."
He headed over to the tree, reached up, and easily plucked a nice red apple from the branches. (One day, Asbel would definitely be tall enough to do that on his own.)
"Catch." Dirk tossed it at him.
Asbel grabbed, fumbled, and—sweet! Got it! "Hey, thanks!"
"Ooh, me too!" the weird girl chirped.
"Of course." Dirk retrieved another apple, but this time held it out for her to take. "Here you are, miss."
She beamed. Asbel would have yelled for Dirk to run, except she seemed to have forgotten about him and he wasn't about to remind her. Everybody for themselves in situations like these.
"Thank you so much—you're my hero!" she exclaimed. (He mimed throwing up.)
And then she kissed Dirk on the cheek. Asbel stopped, pulled his finger out of his mouth, and watched attentively as Dirk blushed and the girl giggled. Wait a minute.
. . . Okay, he'd better get himself gone, because sooner or later, the weird girl was going to remember him and start being weird again.
He walked off, not too fast and not too slow, waiting a bit to take a bite out of his apple so he wouldn't be betrayed by the crunch. He'd make it up to Dirk someday . . . probably. If he remembered.
Anyway! It turned out the weird girl was actually good for more than being annoying, because he never would have thought of cheek-kissing on his own. Would Richard like it if he kissed him on the cheek?
He pictured it, sticking a blush like Dirk's into the image, and . . . man. That was actually, well—pretty nice to think about, especially when he added Richard smiling into the mix. He didn't really think of himself as a cheek-kissing kind of guy, but he could learn. It could happen.
And then an image of Richard kissing him on the cheek popped into his head. His toe caught on the edge of a cobblestone and he just barely didn't go flying. W-Well, that could be okay, too. Yeah. He could, um. Learn to live with that. If it would make Richard happy to . . . kiss him and stuff.
Yeah.
—Anyway, uh. Better get that apple eaten and get back to work.
Except by the time he'd chucked the apple core into the river, he was still hungry. Should he go back to the manor and try to sneak something? He didn't like returning so soon—what if his dad caught him and put him to work? —but he was starving
A breeze blew into his face, carrying the scent of freshly baked bread.
. . . Or he could go beg some of the baker's second batch of the day! Perfect.
Even more perfect was the way he ran into Ford and Will right outside. He may have looked just a bit too excited to have met up with yet another couple . . . but probably they wouldn't notice.
"Hi there, Asbel," Ford greeted him. "Did something good happen today? You look pretty happy."
Or maybe they would.
Asbel shrugged, playing it cool. So he was talking to a pair of teenagers. So what? As far as everyone knew, he talked to teenagers all the time. "Nah, not today."
"Yesterday, then?" Will held the door for the two of them. "It's gotta be something—you look as though you could walk on water."
"Something might have happened yesterday, yeah," Asbel admitted, leaning in once they were all in the bakery. He glanced about—no other customers—before adding, "But you didn't hear that yet, all right?"
Ford grinned and shared a look with his boyfriend. "Well, keep us posted, all right?"
"I will," Asbel promised. Just as soon as he earned a reputation for being the best boyfriend with the happiest partner ever.
Before he could tease the pair with more previews, though, the baker, Mr. Streith, stepped out from the back room.
"Hello, boys—oh, hello, Asbel," he added. "What can I get for you?"
"A dozen rolls, please," Ford requested.
"I'm still looking," Asbel said. He went to examine a display of raisin buns and his mouth started watering. Oh man, this shop was the best!
"A dozen rolls it is." Mr. Streith pulled a paper bag from beneath the counter and filled it from the appropriate tray.
As he did, Asbel kept an eye on Ford and Will. They weren't doing anything boyfriendy at the moment (not unless you counted standing pretty close to each other), but he was sure it was only a matter of time.
"Here you are. That'll be forty gald."
The money was passed over, Ford took the bag, and—there! Right there!
Asbel stopped still behind a pile of cinnamon rolls with icing. (Dang, did he want one.) Will had just set his hand at the small of Ford's back. How had he done it? It had been super-casual, kind of like. . . .
Behind the display, Asbel practiced the almost unthinking arc of his hand as he watched the couple leave. He mentally substituted himself for Will and Richard for Ford; if he could pull this one off, then he'd—
"And what can I get you, Asbel?"
"Huh?" Asbel jerked his head around to see Mr. Streith watching him with his hands on his hips. "Oh, uh." He grabbed a cinnamon roll at random. "I'll take this."
"You will, eh?" Mr. Streith lifted his eyebrows. "I don't suppose you actually remembered your money today, did you?"
"Uhh. . . ." Oh. Right. Money. He tried for a winning smile. "You wouldn't happen to give free samples, would you?"
"Contrary to what you might think, given the number of times you've gotten one, no. I don't."
For a long, long moment, Mr. Streith watched him, smoothing down his mustache with a considering finger. (He was starving; just let him eat already!) At last, he relented. "I'll send a note to your father at the manor. Enjoy the treat—but don't think this is going to be a habit!"
Asbel was already most of the way out the door so Mr. Streith couldn't change his mind. "I won't!"
Sweet.
It took him about five seconds to gobble his snack once he was back in the square. Right. That should hold him until lunch. Time to get back on the job.
A movement inside the bakery caught his eye, and he glanced through the window. Mrs. Streith was just coming into the bakery with . . . brownies. Oh man, he should have gotten those instead. Could he wait until Mr. Streith went in back and try the same trick with Mrs. Streith?
As he weighed his options, he watched the couple talk about something. Then Mrs. Streith laughed and kissed her husband on the—oh, hey, on the nose. That was new, and worth trying.
He couldn't see Mr. Streith's reaction (only the back of his head), but he could see the way he kissed Mrs. Streith on the mouth. Then, smiling, she went into the back room again.
Asbel headed off after that, thinking hard. He still didn't know how he felt about kissing-kissing, even after spending a good part of the morning watching a bunch of different couples. He was going to hold off for a while, he thought—but what would he do if Richard kissed him first? He wouldn't want to hurt his feelings, but . . . could he play it cool and keep him from finding out that was one area where he had absolutely no idea what he was doing? And that he wasn't sure he even wanted to know what he was doing at all?
*
Looking back later in the day, Asbel had to admit that even if he'd been paying attention, he never would have figured out not to take the back alley shortcut to head home. Sure, there had been weird sounds coming out of it, but he probably would have thought it was a dog or something.
It wasn't a dog, though. It was a guy and a girl in their late teens, and . . . and they were gasping and groaning and—gross, she just put her tongue in his mouth—and she was against the wall and why would she be grabbing him there?
"What the heck?" Asbel blurted.
Two heads snapped around in creepy unison.
"Hey kid, get lost!" the girl barked.
She didn't have to tell him twice. Almost before she'd spoken, he was whipping around and running off. Man, boyfriend or not, if Richard wanted him to do that gross stuff, he could forget it. Why would anyone stick their tongue in someone else's mouth? Why would anyone like it?
Sometimes people made no sense at all.
*
Once Asbel got back to Lhant Manor—by, uh, a different route—his very first stop was Richard's room. When his boyfriend (his boyfriend!) answered his knock, Asbel made sure to greet him nonchalantly. "Hey Richard. All done of your studying?"
"Almost. Why? Was there something you wanted?" Richard asked.
Asbel shrugged. "Nah, I just thought we could find Sophie and the others and go do something."
Could Richard hear the pounding of his heart? He wasn't acting like it, but Asbel would swear it should have been drowning out his voice.
Richard smiled, and now it felt as though his heart had just crashed through the top of his head. "That sounds like a great idea. I can finish my studies later."
"Awesome."
Okay. Time to put what he had learned into practice. As naturally as he could, Asbel leaned in to kiss Richard on the cheek. Then he took his hand, weaving their fingers together.
"Let's go."
Richard's mouth dropped open and he blinked at Asbel. His face turned pink and Asbel's busy heart decided to do three backflips and a cartwheel for good measure.
Then a beautiful smile appeared on Richard's face and he squeezed his hand.
"Yes, let's go!"
Beaming hard enough to hurt, Asbel gave Richard's hand a tug, and together, they went off to find their friends.
He really was going to be the best boyfriend ever.
Fandom: Tales of Graces f
Genre: AU/Humour/Romance
Rating & Warnings: G
Words: 3623
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Graces f.
Summary: Asbel and Richard have confessed their feelings to each other and are now boyfriends. The only problem is, Asbel has no idea what being a boyfriend actually consists of.
Author's Notes: I wrote this quite a while ago, and I was hoping to get it posted in time for Richass Week on tumblr, but obviously that didn't happen. Whoops.
This follows immediately after To See His Smile, but it isn't necessary to have read it to understand what's going on in this.
Asbel Lhant had been awake for a grand total of forty-five minutes that morning and already the day was shaping up to be the best one he'd had in weeks.
It was all because of Richard—or, rather, him and Richard. Who knew this love stuff could be so exciting? He'd always thought it sounded pretty boring, but last night, after he'd realised he was actually in love with Richard on top of being best friends, and he had told him all about it? Oh man, he'd barely been able to sleep. He'd almost sneaked out of the house to go run around outside, he'd been so wound up.
And that hadn't stopped when he'd woken up this morning, either. Neither he nor Richard could stop smiling every time they caught each other's eyes. Heck, even hearing Richard say, "Please pass the scrambled eggs" was terrific, especially since he nabbed the plate for himself afterwards.
He was getting a lot of confused looks from Hubert and Mom. His dad outright accused him of planning something (which was totally unfair—he hadn't pulled any real pranks for practically a week).
Even Sophie noticed. At breakfast, she'd put her head to one side and had stated, "You and Richard look happy, Asbel. Did something good happen?"
He'd grinned, nudged Richard with his elbow (and grinned more at the resulting smile), and had replied, "Yeah, you bet!"
"What is it?"
"Tell you later, all right?"
That had seemed good enough for Sophie; she'd gone back to eating with an "All right."
Once breakfast was over and he and Richard were out of earshot of his dad, he asked, "Hey, do you wanna go to Lhant Hill again?" He was going to make sure their next trip together was way better than the last one. He didn't want Richard to have bad memories about their own special place, after all.
Richard look as though he were considering it hard—but then he sighed. "I'd love to, but I really should get some of my studies out of the way. I'm sorry."
That was Richard for you: he could be just as serious as Hubert sometimes. But it was fine.
"No problem," Asbel assured him. "I've got some stuff I need to do anyway. I'll see you later, all right?"
"Do you want to study together?" Richard offered. "I'm sure time would go by much faster if we did."
"Thanks, but I spent the whole afternoon yesterday reading." He gave a little laugh. "I'm not doing that again anytime soon."
"You did?" Richard stared at him. "Really?"
"Yeah, one of Mom's pirate books. They're pretty good—you should give 'em a try sometime. Just don't let her know you know about 'em. She thinks they're a secret."
"I, um, see." Richard looked as if something was kind of weird. But then the look went away and he said, "Maybe later. I should really start studying."
"Sure thing."
Asbel nearly gave him a wave and headed off as usual—but he was a boyfriend now. He was supposed to do boyfriend things, right? Maybe he didn't have a lot of ideas at the moment, but there was one thing he knew Richard liked ever since he'd gotten used to it: getting hugged (by him, anyway. Probably not by Dad, though).
And so Asbel slung his arms around Richard and gave him a squeeze. "See you soon!"
He grinned when Richard hugged him back with a big smile. "Yes, see you soon!"
Once he'd disentangled himself, then it was time for the wave-and-head-off deal. There. He'd have this boyfriend thing down in no time.
Which was good, because that was his only problem with his brand new relationship: He didn't actually know how to be a boyfriend.
He knew how to be Richard's friend, sure. He even knew how to be his best friend. He was pretty darn awesome at it, if you asked him. And he knew how to be Richard's knight, too. But how was he supposed to be Richard's boyfriend?
He knew one thing boyfriends were supposed to do—there was that rhyme after all. ("Asbel and Richard sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!") But, well . . . he didn't know how he felt about kissing Richard. He'd tried imagining it a couple of times last night while he was trying to fall asleep, and it had been—weird. Not bad, he didn't think, but just . . . weird.
There were probably lots of other boyfriendy things he could do while he figured that one out, though, and that was why he was heading into Lhant. He needed to discover exactly what they were.
He'd decided last night that watching the couples in Lhant was his best bet in figuring stuff out. He'd considered his mom's books again, but while there was a lot of rescuing people from evil pirates that he could definitely do, there was also a lot of deep, searing kisses (probably not), running fingers through each other's tresses (. . . maybe? Richard did have great hair), and bosoms (hilarious, weird, and not something he needed to worry about). They weren't going to be much help.
The people of Lhant, now—they were a lot better. And hey! He'd only been out for five minutes, tops, and he'd already found his first pair of targets.
And those targets . . . were Melody and Ailynn. There they were, crossing the square, hand in hand. (Damn, he should have borrowed his dad's binoculars.) Okay. It was great that he'd spotted them, but that was no good. Holding hands was what everyone did all the time.
Except wait. The way they were holding hands was kind of different, wasn't it? It wasn't the same as when he was trying to drag Hubert somewhere. Instead, their fingers were all folded together.
He looked down at his own hands. Yeah, he bet Richard would like that. . . . Actually, to be honest, he'd like it, too.
Okay, he already had his first idea. Sweet. Now to see what other material Melody and Ailynn could—
"Hey, what's up, bro?"
"Gah!" Asbel stumbled back and nearly fell on his butt. "Raph, don't do that!"
The younger boy gave him his best dirty look. It kind of needed practice, though. "It's not my fault you were off in La-La Land." He shrugged: no hard feelings. "So what are you doing?"
. . . Was he ready to share the news with Raph? Maybe he'd better wait until he had the boyfriend thing mastered first. He'd look more impressive that way.
And so he said, "Nothing. Just going for a walk. You know, getting lots of fresh air." He took in a deep breath to illustrate.
Raph gave him a weird look—and then abruptly, he grinned. "I get it. You're probably scoping the place out for some epic prank, am I right?"
Huh? "What? No, I'm on a walk." Geez, where did he get that idea from?
Raph's grin grew. "Sure thing, bro. Whatever you say. Just let me know if you need any help, all right?" He sauntered away.
"But I'm not planning anything!" Asbel yelled after him, only to receive a laugh in response.
Man, what was wrong with Raph, anyway? Couldn't a guy go for a walk in his own hometown without getting accused of being up to something?
He looked around for Melody and Ailynn, but of course they were long gone. Darn it, Raph!
He surveyed the area again, but the only pair he could find were the old couple who lived just a little way from Cheria. He wasn't sure how much use they'd be—did old people even do boyfriend and girlfriend stuff? —but he figured they were worth watching until someone better came along.
And what did you know? Like two seconds later, when they got to the stairs leading down into the main square, the old lady stuck out her arm for the old guy to help him down.
Asbel considered that. Maybe it was just the sort of thing old people did, but maybe it'd make a nice change from hand-holding all the time. He'd have to test it out and see what Richard thought. But the very least, it'd show he was creative. That'd be impressive for sure, right? Right.
. . . Erk, they were looking at him. Time for the old hands-in-pocket-and-whistle routine. He was just an ordinary kid, out on a walk. Nothing to see here, nope.
"Hey, Asbel!"
He didn't jump this time . . . but it was close.
He glanced over to see—hang on, had they been there the whole time? —Violet, Toby, and Eline taking a break from skipping rope.
"Uh, hi guys." Asbel headed on over.
"What're you up to?" Violet asked. She grinned, just like Raph. "Is it good?"
"I'm out on a walk!" Was it seriously that hard to believe?
"That's boring," Toby said, sounding disappointed.
Violet, however, wasn't put off. "Come on, you can tell us. I swear we won't give it away—right?"
"Right!"
"Never!"
Okay, this was getting annoying. "I already said, I'm on a walk. Geez, Violet, at least pretend you know how to listen or something."
Violet dropped her end of the skipping rope to fold her arms. "Geez yourself! You don't need to be rude! I bet whatever you're planning is boring, anyway."
"I'm not planning anything!"
"Whatever, Asbel." Violet turned her back on him; Toby and Eline copied her. "Go have fun on your 'walk.'"
"Rrgh, fine! I will!" He stomped off in a random direction—anywhere that Violet wasn't seemed like a great place to be right now.
By the time he'd reached the bridge, though, he'd cooled down a lot. Actually, come to think of it, the fact that four of his friends all thought he was up to something was kinda funny. Heh. Maybe he should think up a really good prank for later. That wouldn't be such a bad idea. . . .
But he was getting distracted. He needed to focus on the amazingly important job at hand: making Richard happy.
His stomach growled.
. . . Uh, right after he had a snack. Good thing that apple tree was so close, right?
He crossed the bridge and headed down the path. Now he needed just needed avoid that weird—
"Oh, hey there, cutie!"
. . . girl who lived nearby. Drat.
Asbel didn't even bother to look at her. He only offered an extremely unenthusiastic, "Hey," and kept on moving.
Unfortunately, that girl was harder to pry off than a field's worth of burdocks, and she moved right along with him. "Where's your handsome friend?" She gasped. "He isn't sick, is he?"
If he could make it to the tree, maybe he could climb it and escape that way.
Just a little farther. . . .
"He's studying."
Almost at the tree. . . . He could see the guard posted at the gate leading to the port. It was Dirk on duty today, and he was wearing a sympathetic look. Dirk obviously knew alllll about this one.
"Ooh, brains and beauty!" Asbel heard a clap. She was probably folding her hands together. Again. "He's going to be a real catch for someone someday!"
And there was the apple tree. As soon as he had his snack, he was beating the fastest retreat in the history of Lhant.
"Hey, Dirk," he called out, totally ignoring the girl. "Think you could pass me an apple?"
"Sure, Asbel." Dirk smiled at him. "Just a minute."
He headed over to the tree, reached up, and easily plucked a nice red apple from the branches. (One day, Asbel would definitely be tall enough to do that on his own.)
"Catch." Dirk tossed it at him.
Asbel grabbed, fumbled, and—sweet! Got it! "Hey, thanks!"
"Ooh, me too!" the weird girl chirped.
"Of course." Dirk retrieved another apple, but this time held it out for her to take. "Here you are, miss."
She beamed. Asbel would have yelled for Dirk to run, except she seemed to have forgotten about him and he wasn't about to remind her. Everybody for themselves in situations like these.
"Thank you so much—you're my hero!" she exclaimed. (He mimed throwing up.)
And then she kissed Dirk on the cheek. Asbel stopped, pulled his finger out of his mouth, and watched attentively as Dirk blushed and the girl giggled. Wait a minute.
. . . Okay, he'd better get himself gone, because sooner or later, the weird girl was going to remember him and start being weird again.
He walked off, not too fast and not too slow, waiting a bit to take a bite out of his apple so he wouldn't be betrayed by the crunch. He'd make it up to Dirk someday . . . probably. If he remembered.
Anyway! It turned out the weird girl was actually good for more than being annoying, because he never would have thought of cheek-kissing on his own. Would Richard like it if he kissed him on the cheek?
He pictured it, sticking a blush like Dirk's into the image, and . . . man. That was actually, well—pretty nice to think about, especially when he added Richard smiling into the mix. He didn't really think of himself as a cheek-kissing kind of guy, but he could learn. It could happen.
And then an image of Richard kissing him on the cheek popped into his head. His toe caught on the edge of a cobblestone and he just barely didn't go flying. W-Well, that could be okay, too. Yeah. He could, um. Learn to live with that. If it would make Richard happy to . . . kiss him and stuff.
Yeah.
—Anyway, uh. Better get that apple eaten and get back to work.
Except by the time he'd chucked the apple core into the river, he was still hungry. Should he go back to the manor and try to sneak something? He didn't like returning so soon—what if his dad caught him and put him to work? —but he was starving
A breeze blew into his face, carrying the scent of freshly baked bread.
. . . Or he could go beg some of the baker's second batch of the day! Perfect.
Even more perfect was the way he ran into Ford and Will right outside. He may have looked just a bit too excited to have met up with yet another couple . . . but probably they wouldn't notice.
"Hi there, Asbel," Ford greeted him. "Did something good happen today? You look pretty happy."
Or maybe they would.
Asbel shrugged, playing it cool. So he was talking to a pair of teenagers. So what? As far as everyone knew, he talked to teenagers all the time. "Nah, not today."
"Yesterday, then?" Will held the door for the two of them. "It's gotta be something—you look as though you could walk on water."
"Something might have happened yesterday, yeah," Asbel admitted, leaning in once they were all in the bakery. He glanced about—no other customers—before adding, "But you didn't hear that yet, all right?"
Ford grinned and shared a look with his boyfriend. "Well, keep us posted, all right?"
"I will," Asbel promised. Just as soon as he earned a reputation for being the best boyfriend with the happiest partner ever.
Before he could tease the pair with more previews, though, the baker, Mr. Streith, stepped out from the back room.
"Hello, boys—oh, hello, Asbel," he added. "What can I get for you?"
"A dozen rolls, please," Ford requested.
"I'm still looking," Asbel said. He went to examine a display of raisin buns and his mouth started watering. Oh man, this shop was the best!
"A dozen rolls it is." Mr. Streith pulled a paper bag from beneath the counter and filled it from the appropriate tray.
As he did, Asbel kept an eye on Ford and Will. They weren't doing anything boyfriendy at the moment (not unless you counted standing pretty close to each other), but he was sure it was only a matter of time.
"Here you are. That'll be forty gald."
The money was passed over, Ford took the bag, and—there! Right there!
Asbel stopped still behind a pile of cinnamon rolls with icing. (Dang, did he want one.) Will had just set his hand at the small of Ford's back. How had he done it? It had been super-casual, kind of like. . . .
Behind the display, Asbel practiced the almost unthinking arc of his hand as he watched the couple leave. He mentally substituted himself for Will and Richard for Ford; if he could pull this one off, then he'd—
"And what can I get you, Asbel?"
"Huh?" Asbel jerked his head around to see Mr. Streith watching him with his hands on his hips. "Oh, uh." He grabbed a cinnamon roll at random. "I'll take this."
"You will, eh?" Mr. Streith lifted his eyebrows. "I don't suppose you actually remembered your money today, did you?"
"Uhh. . . ." Oh. Right. Money. He tried for a winning smile. "You wouldn't happen to give free samples, would you?"
"Contrary to what you might think, given the number of times you've gotten one, no. I don't."
For a long, long moment, Mr. Streith watched him, smoothing down his mustache with a considering finger. (He was starving; just let him eat already!) At last, he relented. "I'll send a note to your father at the manor. Enjoy the treat—but don't think this is going to be a habit!"
Asbel was already most of the way out the door so Mr. Streith couldn't change his mind. "I won't!"
Sweet.
It took him about five seconds to gobble his snack once he was back in the square. Right. That should hold him until lunch. Time to get back on the job.
A movement inside the bakery caught his eye, and he glanced through the window. Mrs. Streith was just coming into the bakery with . . . brownies. Oh man, he should have gotten those instead. Could he wait until Mr. Streith went in back and try the same trick with Mrs. Streith?
As he weighed his options, he watched the couple talk about something. Then Mrs. Streith laughed and kissed her husband on the—oh, hey, on the nose. That was new, and worth trying.
He couldn't see Mr. Streith's reaction (only the back of his head), but he could see the way he kissed Mrs. Streith on the mouth. Then, smiling, she went into the back room again.
Asbel headed off after that, thinking hard. He still didn't know how he felt about kissing-kissing, even after spending a good part of the morning watching a bunch of different couples. He was going to hold off for a while, he thought—but what would he do if Richard kissed him first? He wouldn't want to hurt his feelings, but . . . could he play it cool and keep him from finding out that was one area where he had absolutely no idea what he was doing? And that he wasn't sure he even wanted to know what he was doing at all?
Looking back later in the day, Asbel had to admit that even if he'd been paying attention, he never would have figured out not to take the back alley shortcut to head home. Sure, there had been weird sounds coming out of it, but he probably would have thought it was a dog or something.
It wasn't a dog, though. It was a guy and a girl in their late teens, and . . . and they were gasping and groaning and—gross, she just put her tongue in his mouth—and she was against the wall and why would she be grabbing him there?
"What the heck?" Asbel blurted.
Two heads snapped around in creepy unison.
"Hey kid, get lost!" the girl barked.
She didn't have to tell him twice. Almost before she'd spoken, he was whipping around and running off. Man, boyfriend or not, if Richard wanted him to do that gross stuff, he could forget it. Why would anyone stick their tongue in someone else's mouth? Why would anyone like it?
Sometimes people made no sense at all.
Once Asbel got back to Lhant Manor—by, uh, a different route—his very first stop was Richard's room. When his boyfriend (his boyfriend!) answered his knock, Asbel made sure to greet him nonchalantly. "Hey Richard. All done of your studying?"
"Almost. Why? Was there something you wanted?" Richard asked.
Asbel shrugged. "Nah, I just thought we could find Sophie and the others and go do something."
Could Richard hear the pounding of his heart? He wasn't acting like it, but Asbel would swear it should have been drowning out his voice.
Richard smiled, and now it felt as though his heart had just crashed through the top of his head. "That sounds like a great idea. I can finish my studies later."
"Awesome."
Okay. Time to put what he had learned into practice. As naturally as he could, Asbel leaned in to kiss Richard on the cheek. Then he took his hand, weaving their fingers together.
"Let's go."
Richard's mouth dropped open and he blinked at Asbel. His face turned pink and Asbel's busy heart decided to do three backflips and a cartwheel for good measure.
Then a beautiful smile appeared on Richard's face and he squeezed his hand.
"Yes, let's go!"
Beaming hard enough to hurt, Asbel gave Richard's hand a tug, and together, they went off to find their friends.
He really was going to be the best boyfriend ever.
