Chapter 374: Like Minds.

Chapter 374: Chapter 374: Like Minds.

It feels really nice actually, and he can’t quite entirely stop a moan from bubbling out of his throat as Loac’s fingers card through his hair, grazing along his scalp.

The sound makes Loac still; not just his hand but his chest too, like he’s holding his breath.

But as the seconds tick by he begins to relax once more, and after a moment Khobi feels his fingers running through his hair again; feather-light and unbearably, undeniably gentle , and even though he was only pretending to be asleep to spare the two of them an uncomfortable situation –at least, that’s how he rationalises it to himself –the longer he lies there, relaxing into Loac’s touch, the closer he comes to drifting off again.

​He’s right on the cusp of sleep again when there’s a sudden pounding on the door. Loac immediately snatches his hand away from Khobi’s hair like he’s been stung and the annoyed noise Khobi makes at being disturbed is entirely real.

Grimacing at the volume, he slowly drags himself back to his side of the bed; taking care to keep his eyes closed and his limbs loose like he’s just tossed in his sleep.

​"...Who’s that?" Khobi grumbles, face stuffed into his own, rightful pillow like he’s been there all night.

​"When did you...how long have you been awake?" Loac asks quietly, and Khobi would think he was imagining the panic in his voice if it wasn’t suddenly in his eyes, too.

​"Huh?" he blinks blearily, and lies. Because that’s easier than trying to explain why he’d been curled up against Loac’s body, letting him card his fingers through his hair. "Just now. Why?"

​There’s a flash of something that on anyone else Khobi might’ve interpreted as relief, but it’s gone just as quickly as it appeared and before he can delve into that there’s another bang on the door, accompanied by a shrill, " Loac~ "

​Ah, Rogard’s come to visit.

​" What?" Loac snaps back, to stop him from banging on the door again. Khobi jams the pillow over his head, just in case.

​"Are you decent?" The pillow does very little to muffle Rogard’s voice.

​"...If I say no will you go away?" Loac calls out irritably.

​" No ."

​"...You can come in," Khobi hollers dryly, because this is getting stupid.

​"Are you naked ?" Rogard quips back.

The silence that answers him is terribly loud.

​"...There are blankets," Khobi eventually replies, more to fill the awkward silence than anything else. There’s nothing showing that shouldn’t be.

​" That’s not what I asked ."

​"Either come in or go away," Loac drawls darkly, and clearly doesn’t get the response he was hoping for when the door creaks open and Rogard walks in with his hands over his eyes.

Kind of ironic given that he was the one who had wanted to discuss their sex lives in crippling detail.

He even makes a big show of cautiously peeking out from behind his hands before dropping them away with exaggerated relief.

​"...You could at least pretend I didn’t interrupt anything," he complains, gesturing towards the bed and the glaringly deliberate space hanging empty between them.

​"You didn’t," Khobi deadpans blearily, rubbing his eyes as he sits up, taking pains to make sure the blankets stay as neutral as humanly possible.

"I just woke up."

​(If Rogard could put his eyebrows back where they belonged, that would be great.)

​"...So why does Loac look so mad?" He inquires cheekily, and even as Khobi draws up to defend himself, when he looks back there’s really no denying that Loac does look annoyed, leaning back into the pillows looking sulky, "What, were you two cuddling, or something?"

​" No ," Loac huffs, too quickly and too defensively to be in the least bit convincing. Even if Khobi had’ve been asleep for real, he probably wouldn’t have bought it but for both their sakes he pretends he does.

From Rogard’s tone it’s clear he’d meant it as a joke, but that doesn’t stop Khobi’s ears from blowing so red they feel like they might fall off, and he hopes that Loac can’t tell.

​He didn’t realise a person’s eyebrows could go quite so high.

​"Well there’s always tomorrow~" Rogard chirps lightly, and if he was within reach or Khobi was wearing pants, he’d smack him, "But for now I need to steal Loac from you.

Some of us have work to do."

​"Sure," Khobi states dryly, opting to ignore everything else he’s just said, "But since when do you ?"

​"I’m offended," he declares indignantly, and spreads his hands as if to present himself to the room, "Don’t you notice...anything different ?"

​Actually, now that he’s mentioned it, there is something different. For as long as Khobi’s known Rogard, he’s always been dressed in some flashy, supposedly trendy things.

Due to his recent...change in circumstance, as it were, he’d taken to wearing hand me downs from the other soldiers, but today he’s dressed entirely differently.

​In the maroon and black of the castle guards, in fact.

​What .

​"You’re looking at the newest member of the castle guard ," Rogard announces self-importantly, letting out an obligatory, offended squawk when Khobi offers a deadpan, "They let you be a guard?" And because that seems like the sort of thing that the a Captain would probably know about, he reaches out across the bed to shove Loac, "Did you know about this??"

​" – Ow, what was that for?" Loac complains, looking put out, "He wanted to surprise you."

​That’s a yes , then.

​" Surprise !" Rogard declares, and it’s hard to keep a straight face when he’s beaming at him like that, "And we , just so happen to be chaperoning Montrel and Xena today –"

​"Oh right, their date ," Khobi remarks with a yawn. "Montrel was telling me about that. Wait , you’re chaperoning?" He adds, giving Loac an incredulous look.

​"It was Xena’s idea," Loac drawls back easily, offering him a shrug, "And Gurdet said it was fine."

​( "As long as you don’t try to sneak Khobi out again," had been the stipulation, actually.

​"Tsk, that was one time," Loac had snorted, even though they both knew that the thought had crossed his mind.

Even in the daylight it probably wouldn’t have been too hard. How many times has he done it never been caught?

​"...Was it?"

That’s all Gurdet had said on the matter, but there had been something unnerving about the way he’d looked when he’d said it, and it had been enough to make him rethink that idea.)

​" And we’re going to be late," Rogard continues reproachfully.

​" –Then you should’ve woken me up earlier," Loac grouses, flinging back the bedsheets and stomping over buck naked to start getting dressed. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

And if Khobi maybe props himself up on his elbows a little to better watch him go; to better get an eyeful of the long lines of his back and the shape of his ass, then who’s to know?

​Rogard, that’s who. Rogard knows. And from severe side-eye that Khobi catches being slung his way, he is judging him heavily for it.

​Khobi immediately ducks his gaze away, and pretends he wasn’t looking –like he wasnt just checking out Loac like some common lech –but the damage is already done.

​And then quickly gets worse. Because while Khobi’s seen the likes of Montrel, and Jaga, and now even Rogard in the classic black and maroon of the Crade castle guard, he’s never seen it on Loac.

It had never even occured to him that he’d own a uniform, let alone that he’d ever wear one.

But of course he does; he is a Captain after all, and of course it looks good on him –everything (and nothing) looks good on him –but (and no one is more alarmed to discover this than Khobi himself) there is something about the way the maroon cloak hangs off his shoulders and the elegant cut of the imposing black leather against his skin and eyes that makes him look...

​Really, really fuckable .

​Suddenly his face feels way too hot and his pulse feels unnaturally fast.

​Oh, fuck.

​"We goin’ or what?" Loac demands of Rogard, pulling his gloves into place and adjusting the belt fastening his sword around his hips.

The whole ensemble looks heavy, but he still somehow moves seamlessly in it, carrying himself like a real, honest-to-god Captain .

​(Khobi can’t help but wonder what else he might be able to do in it.)

​(Him, maybe.)

​"I’m waiting for you !" Rogard squawks, but Loac doesnt seem to hear, too busy eyeing Khobi thoughtfully.

And from the way his teeth catch on his lower lip as their eyes meet across the room, there’s a good chance that they’re both thinking the same thing.

​Rogard waits until Loac is safely out in the hallway before loudly clearing his throat.

​"What?" Khobi glares, and if he wasn’t already completely naked but for the blankets tugged up around his waist, the look that Rogard settles him with would have left him feeling that way.

​"I’m sleeping with a Captain too, yknow,"

Rogard states evenly, which is a mortifying way to put it for starters.

" I get it."

​Khobi immediately colours.

​Because one , he really didn’t need to know that, and two ...

​That’s different .

​He’s not sure how, but it is.