Chapter 258 - 256: Bursted

Chapter 258: Chapter 256: Bursted

No wonder it’s so cold tonight , Drogger sighs to himself as he lets the curtains drop back in place. It’s snowing again.

For not the first time in recent weeks he’s endlessly glad that Gurdet’s decided not to send him out of the city this winter –the snows have been coming heavier and more often than usual, and it seems like there’ll be more to come before the season’s done.

​Ynoro throws another log on the fire before making himself comfortable on Drogger’s couch.

He’ll have to get going soon if he wants to be back at the castle before it really starts to blizzard; every soldier has risked it once.

They never risk it again. It’s why the barkeeps make such killing in winter, relying on stupid soldiers getting too drunk too late and having to spend the night in the city lest they face the winter’s wrath.

​But Ynoro’s made no sign that he’s ready to make tracks; pouring over lists and maps so that they can best distribute their kingdom’s resources without hampering the capabilities of any of their major cities.

It’s a strategic nightmare every year, particularly when the snows get like this.

​"Hey, this can wait until tomorrow," Drogger sighs, setting down some steaming tea on the table and making to start tidying up for the night. This sort of thing isn’t even Ynoro’s job .

​In hindsight, he probably should’ve just left him to it, because at his words Ynoro makes the most concerning face.

​" Do my ears deceive me ?"

​Oh no, here he goes.

​" Drogger Noog ? Dare I say it; taking a break ?" Ynoro trills, and ducks as Drogger bats him on the back of his head with a scroll of paper.

"Gods, just wait until I tell the others."

​"That’s enough," Drogger deadpans, and Ynoro laughs easily and lets him exchange his pencil for a cup of tea.

"There’s a real storm starting out there," he adds meaningfully, but Ynoro just waves away his concern, telling him that this isn’t his first winter and that he was already planning on spending the night in town.

There’s an inn only a block down that has a room waiting for him, he says; run by the most lovely woman –because of course there’s a woman; what anecdote of Ynoro’s doesn’t have at least one –that he met while he was down at the market the other day.

​He’d just stopped in to take shelter from the snow, he said, and there she was behind the bar. The moment he’d tasted her cooking he’d known it was love.

​"Any woman who can cook would make a wonderful wife, don’t you think?" he poses, and Drogger hums along, humouring him like he always does when Ynoro gets like this.

And this rant is fairly extensive and carries on for quite some time; it’s possible that this one actually gave him the time of day. Or at least, given Ynoro that impression. Not that that takes much.

​She was very stern and quite serious, so he says, with beautiful dark hair and a tidy cooking station –not to mention that the inn itself was practically spotless.

So of course he just knows that she would be the type to keep a clean house and have dinner ready for him when he got home.

​"You live at the castle," Drogger reminds him, knowing full well that no amount of logic will ever work on Ynoro, "You already have dinner ready for you when you’re finished for the day."

​"It’s the principle of the thing," Ynoro insists emphatically, and earns himself yet another long-suffering eye roll as Drogger pours himself his third cup of tea. "...But in all seriousness, Noog," he adds, decidedly more subdued, and Drogger is caught off guard by the change in his demeanour as he drops the misty eyes and gestures loosely at the space around them, "...How can you not dream of having someone to come home to? For real, and forever, this time?"

​It’s not exactly an odd question –not from Ynoro, at least –but there’s something about his tone that strikes Drogger as... different .

​"...Who says I don’t?" he muses offhandedly, largely under his breath, and through the steam he catches Ynoro gazing at him, expression thoughtful.

​"So you do, then?" he inquires over a casual sip of his tea, "...Have someone you want that with?"

​The question stuns Drogger into silence.

​Because this... whatever it is with Rogard is so new, and his last relationship started and ended so terribly that he hasn’t really thought about it; about what comes next.

About what a future together might look like.

​(He wonders if Rogard has; if that’s what really what prompted him to ask such strange questions earlier.)

​He tries to envision what it might be like to come home to Rogard at night; to hear him chatter away as they prepare dinner, kiss him by the fireside on nights like this, and read in bed with him dozing off beside him.

Obviously, there’s no way it would be that easy; things with Rogard Spidra are never quite so easy, but the thought still brings a small smile to his lips.

​And thus gives Ynoro his answer.

​"...It’s Rogard, isn’t it?"

​What.

​Drogger is so horrified by the accusation that he can’t even find the words to deny it.

And to make matters worse, Ynoro just sits there through the silence, sipping at his drink as though he’s said nothing strange.

Which would honestly be a first for Ynoro.

​"Well?" he says, finally, and pours himself another cup of tea as though they’re discussing the weather, and not Drogger’s most preciously guarded secret.

"It’s fine if it is," he assures him, as though he hasn’t spent the last however many years harping on at him about finding a nice woman to keep him company.

Drogger’s mouth moves –but to say what? To refute it? To ask him what he’s talking about? Anything would be better than keeping silent, but for all the possibilities, nothing comes out.

​And in any case, what point is there in lying to Ynoro?