Chapter 10: BL Hell, What Do You Have Against Me?

Sebastian grabbed Milo’s wrist to stop him from doing that thing. No wonder the other had spilled his seed so quickly. Having a hand move over his manhood like that was bound to make him mad with desire. Before, he had enjoyed only the act itself, and touching usually involved other parts of his body. How could such a simple crude method feel so overwhelming?

“It’s too much,” he whispered.

Milo kissed him and ignored his protests while his hand did its thing. Surely enough, it didn’t take him long to follow Milo’s example from earlier. He was panting hard, his release still overpowering. Watching the white droplets that had landed on Milo’s lean thigh wasn’t helping, either.

He let out a slight sound that sounded weak in his ears as Milo rushed one hand through his hair, pushing back the mop that always hanged over his eyes.

“I can see better,” he said in surprise.

Milo chuckled. “Now that’s a useful side effect.” He embraced Sebastian and kissed him some more, without the clumsiness from before. As already guessed, it took little for the youth to become well learned in the art of kissing, and Sebastian had a great appreciation for that.

He was, annoyingly so, in a state of a daze as Milo pulled him out and handed him a towel to dry himself. Usually, Pepin handled such mundane tasks as his thoughts had focused entirely on the good of the people of Ifigia. But, here, he didn’t have to do that, and the absence of that burden he had grown with was strange and gave room to a type of awkwardness he had never experienced before. Just as Pepin’s absence, his trustworthy manservant who was always at his beck and call.

“Hey, did I break you?” Milo joked and waved a hand in front of his eyes.

Lost in thought, he had ended up standing there, water dripping from his hair.

“Let me.” Milo took the towel from his hands and began rubbing it against his head.

His weren’t Pepin’s gentle hands trained from a young age to offer nothing but perfect service. Sebastian grimaced when, a few times, his hair felt like it was about to be pulled from its roots.

That changed when Milo began wiping his body. Again, the green eyes were turning thoughtful and foggy while the boy’s hands moved slowly.

Milo let out a small laugh. “It’s still so strange to think that a few days ago I was, I mean, we were...”

“Don’t talk.” Sebastian placed one hand over Milo’s mouth. Words like those provoked something inside him, something he wasn’t ready to acknowledge or even take the time to understand. “Where is the food?”

It wasn’t like him to lack manners, and he usually would have waited patiently until the host offered nourishment, but, in this case, dire times called for a different approach. At the pit of his stomach, an emptiness opened, while his chest was too full. Anything was better than enduring that sensation.

“Hungry, huh? But I’m, too,” Milo admitted and grabbed his hand.

“Are we going to run through the house completely naked?” Sebastian asked.

“Why not? I told you. My parents won’t be back until Sunday evening.”

At the same time, having a late lunch while naked sounded both decadent and enticing. Sebastian couldn’t help but follow Milo’s example and ran along to keep up with the other’s large steps as they rushed out of the bathroom.

“Is he still alive?” were the first words leaving Kai’s mouth the moment he set foot back into the royal chamber.

The old physician was bent over his patient, busy placing a cold compress on his forehead. “Your Majesty!” He turned and stared at Kai and Pepin in disbelief. “Back so soon? Did you --”

“Yeah, of course,” Kai replied. “We wouldn’t be here otherwise. Here’s the dragon tear.” He handed the vial to the flabbergasted doctor. “Now get that remedy done and fix him.” He pointed at Conrad in what he hoped looked enough like a royal gesture.

Unsure of how many times he could slip in and out of character without raising suspicion, he had decided to try impersonating Prince Sebastian as often as possible, especially when there was a small audience so that he could test his acting skills.

The physician cautiously took the vial from his hands and rushed to the table on which he had laid the tools of his trade. He kept muttering something under his breath while combining the ingredients.

Kai walked to the bed and stared at Conrad. “What do you think?” he asked Pepin in a whisper. “He’s paler than when we left him, right?”

“He’ll live,” Pepin assured him. “Your Majesty, is it true? That I’m your favorite servant?”

Ah, because of what he had said when they were in the cave, fighting the dragon. Or trying to reason with her. “You’re practically my only servant,” Kai whispered back. Now that the danger concerning Conrad was almost averted, he needed to be careful not to give Pepin false hopes.

“That’s not true,” Pepin retorted. “The entire castle is at your feet.”

“And yet, you’re the only guy I trust to go hunting dragon tears with,” Kai pointed out.

Pepin smiled, pleased with that. Then he stared into Kai’s eyes. “You’ll take me again, right?”

Kai pondered for a moment. Well, Prince Sebastian must be in his shoes right now, flunking tests and whatnot. And just like anyone their age, Pepin wanted adventure and fun, not to be locked in the kitchen all the time. “Of course,” he said brightly. They were the main characters in this story, so it wasn’t like anything could really happen to them. Pepin was safe, he convinced himself. “Although, you’ll have to learn how to use a sword.”

“Really?” Pepin’s eyes shone. “I’ll do my best, Sire.”

“Stop it with ‘sire’ and all that. We’re practically the same age, and we’re not strangers.”

He kept looking worriedly at Conrad. His complexion was like wax now, and Kai began to chew on his nails. How long did the court’s physician need to make that remedy?

A light touch on his arm pulled him out of his thoughts. Pepin offered a timid smile. “This night was great.”

It was true that they had had to ride through the night to get back to the castle. The dawn was not yet breaking.

“I guess.” He gave a sheepish smile of his own.

“Conrad will get well,” Pepin said with conviction. “And just so you know, Sebastian, I’m no longer upset that you love him. As long as I can become a knight, too,” he added quickly.

“A knight? Aren’t you a bit ambitious? I just said you’d be allowed to carry a sword, not lead us into battle.”

Pepin’s smile broadened. “I can convince you to let me do anything.”

“Hm. Don’t be so sure.”

“After tonight, I am.”

Maybe, just maybe, it hadn’t been that great an idea to take Pepin along for the ride. Now, the guy wanted to be a knight and yield a sword. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but Kai didn’t want his manservant to put himself in harm’s way without knowing how to fend for himself. “Just for the record,” he said from the corner of his mouth, “I’ll keep a close eye on you. I don’t want you to trip and fall into a sword, poke your eyes out by accident, or who knows what else.”

To his surprise, Pepin started laughing. It was a quiet, gentle laugh, but it sounded so pleasant that Kai found himself leaning toward its source.

“I’ll be careful,” Pepin promised.

“You better be. As mom used to say whenever I skipped school to go swimming, ‘if you dare to come back drowned, I’ll kill you myself’.” Ah, shit. The moment the words flew from his mouth, he knew he had done it. “I mean, it’s what I heard a minstrel singing once. Weird song, if you’re asking me. It’s not about my mom. Just a mom. A random one.”

“All right,” Pepin said. “I’ll be a knight,” he added dreamily.

Phew. Good thing Pepin only cared about dreaming wide-eyed of his new career choice. He needed to be extra careful from now on.

“It is ready, Sire,” the physician announced.

“All right,” Kai said. “Now, please do what you have to. It’s a sure thing, right? ‘Cause I’m not sure I can get another dragon tear anytime soon.”

“It is,” the old man confirmed.

He moved over to the bed and began applying a poultice all over the cut on Conrad’s abdomen. Both Kai and Pepin strained their necks to check on his moves. The physician saw about his work and then pulled the blanket over Conrad’s body.

“Now, his own body will have to do the rest.”

“Then, you are free to go,” Kai decided.

That appeared to surprise the old man. “Don’t you want me to watch over him until he wakes up?”

“If anything changes, I’ll just send Pepin for you. It’s not like there’s anything else for you to do, right?”

“That’s true,” the physician admitted in a hesitant tone.

“Go rest. I suppose you’re not a party animal given your age, and you need your sleep, right?”

“Thank you, Sire.” The old man bowed. “I will come back in the morning to check on the patient.”

“Not much time left until then. Just get your sleep. Pepin has his ways to wake up anyone from his deepest slumber, I’m sure. Right?” He turned toward the servant.

“Of course,” came the immediate reply.

The physician retreated with murmured thanks after packing his medical utensils.

Kai observed Conrad. His pallor was slowly receding, and his breath was even now. “Excellent job, Pepin. We did it. High five,” he said and put up one hand.

Pepin gave him a quizzical look. What, high fives were not a thing in this world? Kai grabbed Pepin’s arm and brought their palms together. “Like this,” he said airily like it was the most natural thing for a prince and his manservant to do.

He ignored the other’s confused stare and looked around. “Hmm, now where am I going to sleep?”

In the end, they had decided that sitting at the table all naked wasn’t convenient, so they had donned some flimsy garments. Milo lent him some of his own, and while Sebastian enjoyed the soft feel of the fabric on his skin, he was once more reminded of the difference in size between them. At least, Milo’s family had, apparently, a good supply of sleepers for guests, and he didn’t have to suffer in that regard, as well.

After a day in school and enjoying themselves under the shower, they were both clearly famished. Sebastian watched Milo as he used something he recalled as being a microwave oven to heat food.

When the steaming plate was placed in front of him, his belly let out a shameless growl.

“Sorry,” he said, reminding himself over and over again that he needed to talk as informal as he could.

“No problem,” Milo replied cheerfully. “Dig in. And we can study after.”

Study. Of course. They weren’t there to do the things they had done in the shower. It was quite shameful that he needed to be reminded of the main quest. Clearly, Milo’s beauty was bewitching.

Troubled by that realization, he barely tasted the food, just bringing the fork to his mouth and chewing each bite.

“What’s wrong?” Milo asked.

“Nothing.”

“It can’t be nothing. You kept asking about food, and now you don’t look like you’re enjoying it.”

Sebastian looked at his plate. Everything looked delicious. But his mind was, indeed, bothered, and he couldn’t share his worries with the one who must be playing an essential role in the curse that had snared him.

“How do you make money?” he asked.

“More than what you do at your part-time?”

“Yes.” He had yet to figure out what the part-time job he supposedly had entailed.

“I don’t know. It can be many things. But shouldn’t you be more interested in graduating?”

“I should do both. Mrs ... I mean, my mother is worried.”

Milo put his fork down, his entire attention trained on him. “Let’s go job hunting this Saturday. Maybe we find something that pays better.”