Chapter 209 - 207: A Tease.

Chapter 209: Chapter 207: A Tease.

When they pull apart, he’s beaming in a way that Drogger seems to distrust.

​"What?"

​"Nothing," Rogard chirps back easily, and Drogger just sighs one of his big, long-suffering sighs, and sets to fixing up the pile of papers that Ynoro had thrown into disarray.

Rogard doesn’t know much of what goes on behind the scenes as a captain, but he knows a mountain of paperwork when he sees it, and he’d bet a whole lot of his father’s gold that it’s not all love letters and marriage offers.

It might be the light, too, but Drogger’s worry lines are particularly deep tonight, and there are some dark circles starting to form under his eyes.

​"...Are you looking after yourself, master?" he finds himself asking, and Drogger chuckles, like he sees the irony, too.

​"It’s a busy time of year," is what he says in lieu of an answer, which Rogard thinks is rather hypocritical for someone who is constantly scolding him for not taking better care of himself.

He starts sifting through a few of the pages, rearranging them on the desk every now and then, "Don’t you worry about me."

​Almost instinctively, Rogard reaches out and lays one of his hands over Drogger’s. He stills.

​Let me worry about you, is what he wants to say, but he’s already been lame enough today, and he thinks Drogger will get it, anyway.

​"...Is there anything I can help with?" he asks instead, and the small, dry smile Drogger sends him feels more familiar than what he would show to just anyone.

​"...If you and your friends could stop causing trouble, that would be great."

​Well, if that isn’t the one thing he can’t promise.

​"Ah, anything else?"

​Drogger elbows him, but not hard, and gives his hand a small squeeze before resuming his fussing over his paperwork.

​"I’ll be fine," he assures him, "I promise. It’s like this every year."

​"You have to do all of this? By yourself?" Rogard had always hated having to do homework, and this looks a thousand times worse than homework. And a thousand times as much.

​"Hmm...Ynoro helps where he can," Drogger shrugs, frown deepening, "...Although he can get a bit carried away..."

​A bit carried away . Well if that wasn’t a grossly understated way to describe Ynoro Yoshitaka.

​On that note...

​"Oh yeah!" Rogard remembers, curiosity reignited, "What was Ynoro-senpai talking about before? A golden opportunity?" If it’s possible, the bags under Drogger’s eyes darken.

​"Oh, that ," he mutters mutinously, pressing out the lines in his forehead, as if that’ll help. Drogger Noog has had wrinkles since he was sixteen years old.

Some of which Rogard probably put there. "He’s got it in his head that since I’m not heading out of town this winter it’ll be a good time to shack up with someone ."

​His tone heavily implies that the words are straight from Ynoro’s mouth, and while there’s a lot to unpack from that statement, Rogard has to start somewhere.

​" –Wait, you’re not going out into the field?" he asks, not sure he heard correctly.

​"Apparently not. I’m here for the winter," Drogger replies, and sends him a loaded sidelong glance, "...That...fine with you?" Rogard bites back a grin.

​"More than fine."

​"...Good." There goes that soft smile again; the one Rogard likes to greedily think of as just for him.

​As for the rest of what Ynoro had said...

​" Are you going to shack up with someone?" he teases, and while he doesn’t get elbowed, Drogger sends him a withering look.

​" Don’t you start ," he warns, but it’s a little more half-hearted than usual, "...But I have been thinking."

​"Dangerous, master –"

​"Don’t interrupt," he scolds, before snapping right back to such a terribly serious expression that Rogard wonders briefly if he should be worried.

"I’ve been thinking...we should have dinner."

​Huh ?

​" Dinner ," he parrots, like he’s unfamiliar with the word.

​"At my place, in the city," Drogger supplies, and while the words are the same stern captain Rogard is intimately familiar with, the face he’s wearing is oddly quiet. Almost shy , "I’ll cook."

​Rogard is flummoxed by the implication that Drogger Noog, Second Captain of the highly regarded Kingdom of Crade, can cook .

​And apparently wants to cook for him .

​"What, like a date?" he blurts out, before he can help himself. How embarrassing.

Drogger just chuckles, eyes creasing at the edges as he considers the question.

​"...Like a date," he agrees, "What do you say?"

​"I’d like that," Rogard tells him, somewhat breathlessly; stomach bubbling, "I’d like that a lot."

​"Good," Drogger says again, like it’s decided, and some of the tension leaves his shoulders as he sets aside his work.

Then Rogard leans in and the bright twinkle to his voice fades to smouldering embers.

​"...What else have you been thinking about, master?"

​It’s not the question that makes Drogger stiffen, but the change in tone.

Which had been Rogard’s intention, obviously.

​"... Rogard... "

​Rogard doesn’t give him the chance to scold him, he just leans in and kisses him; slower and deeper, and more heady than before, so there’s no mistaking just exactly what he’s been thinking about.

Because stolen kisses are one thing, but he’s hungry for more, and he wants to know if Drogger is the same.

​From the way Drogger shoves him into the desk as he kisses him back, pressing into Rogard such that his thighs have no option but to fall apart to make room, he is.

​The desk creaks, and papers spill across the floor.

Rogard –lips occupied, and with Drogger’s hands in his hair and his shirt, and his own snaking up his chest and around his shoulders –barely notices.

What he does notice, is when Drogger’s hands catch on his bare skin under his shirt and start roaming, burning up the lines of his back and down his hips like he’s aching to feel him against him.

​How unfair .

​And Rogard was the one with the reputation for being a tease.