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Vacation is usually something that’s meant to bring some calm to your otherwise chaotic routine that your everyday life so often entails. It’s meant as a way to experience a breath of fresh air, a means to recharge, and then afterwards face the challenges of daily life once more with renewed energy. Rest and relaxation were usually the things people would seek out on their vacation, although there are certainly some who’d prefer using their time seeking exciting adventures or others who might use their time off to delve deeper into their interests and hobbies.
Ifa himself is one of those who thought of vacation as a chance to relax. Hardly a surprise since as a veterinarian of the Flower-Feather Clan, there’s enough excitement everyday as it is. When he got invited a few weeks ago to attend the so called “Chevalmarin Film Fantasyland” in Fontaine (it had taken him quite a while to remember that name correctly, let alone pronounce it somewhat acceptable) he gratefully accepted the offer. A break would really do him good. Besides, he’d never been to Fontaine before (or any place outside of Natlan for that matter, there were other priorities during the war after all). His curiosity after hearing the offer definitely got the better of him, so he agreed to it way more quickly than any normal person probably would.
Of course, Ifa did not embark on this journey entirely on his own. He actually invited a few others to accompany him. Naturally, his best friend and best bro of all time, Ororon, was at the top of his list, but to Ifa’s surprise Kinich also accepted the invitation to visit Fontaine, even though he gave the impression that he had his own personal reasons for tagging along. But then again, you never knew with him, and Ifa knew better than to press him for answers.
And thus, the men had gathered at the day of their departure, and with them in tow of course Cacucu, Ifa’s most loyal companion and friend, as well as Ajaw, Kinich’s… questionable, loudly screeching appendage, who claimed to be a powerful dragon lord at any given chance. Or whatever it was he used to say.
With this particular group of travelers, Ifa should’ve realized sooner, that this trip would not be quite as relaxing as initially planned. You see, Kinich for example, and by extension Ajaw as well, isn’t exactly the type of person who longed for idle peace and quiet on his vacation. He’s definitely more of an adventurer, the kind who would probably seize the first opportunity that presented itself to him to leap from a rooftop or a large tree with nothing but his grappling hook. Just the stuff you would expect from the average youth raised in the Scions of the Canopy.
On the other hand, Ororon’s idea of vacation is probably more agreeable to Ifa, even though their views differed somewhat on the matter. If given the choice, his best friend would likely have preferred to spend his free time retreating to his garden, plant a new type of vegetable, study it very meticulously and give each and every plant its own name. Perhaps he would visit Ifa occasionally during such an endeavor but would’ve otherwise stayed withdrawn from the rest of his clan. He didn’t necessarily object to contact with strangers per se, but in that regard he definitely took much after his Granny Citlali.
Even though this trip was probably not his first choice, he seemed quite happy to come along when Ifa had asked him. He also seemed quite interested in the reports about “movies” that the traveler had shared with them a while ago. (“Did you know they have machines over there in Fontaine that let you watch moving photos?”). And of course, because Ifa was the one inviting him, his best bro in the whole world, how could he refuse?
Since their arrival in Fontaine today, however, nothing went nearly as calm and smoothly as Ifa had hoped for. The last stretch of their journey they had undertaken together was through a part of the Sumeru Desert, and it had been way more arduous thanks to the heat (that felt very different from the one in Natlan) than it had any right to be. And even though the cool sea air of Fontaine felt really refreshing once they arrived at the border, Ifa had to find out the hard way that, despite the beautiful views the boat trip to the capital offered, the gentle rocking and irregular swaying of the boat made him seasick in a way he didn’t expect to suffer so much from.
Even worse, he seemed to be the only one on the boat affected by this phenomenon, as neither Ororon nor Kinich appeared to be experiencing anything similar. When they finally reached their destination, Ifa was very glad to have solid ground under his feet again. (He had to reassure the worried Melusine on the boat several times that he was alright before she let him go). Unfortunately, due to that incident, Ifa also missed their shared lunch together at a nice Fontainian restaurant since he was unable to even eat a single bite. After that, Kinich bid the two of them farewell for now, since he wanted to explore the city on his own, which left Ororon and Ifa, who at least felt a little bit better by now, to check out the hotel they would be staying at.
Their group had rented two rooms for their stay: a slightly larger one for Ifa, Ororon and Cacucu and another one for Kinich and Ajaw. This arrangement seemed the most logical to everyone. However, upon entering their room for the first time, the next minor catastrophe unfolded. Not because the room was bad in any way, quite the contrary in fact. The room was very nice, spacious, and made an extremely comfortable impression. The white walls allowed the sunlight of the late afternoon sun to gently dance across them and, apart from the large four-poster bed, there was also a small armchair by the window with a thin curtain, a small round table and even a machine for playing movies (which Ororon inspected with great delight). The problem was not the room or the decor. It was the bed. As in a singular one. As in, there was only one bed. One bed that he and Ororon had to share.
Even though they’d been best friends for the longest time, they have never slept in the same bed before. In the same room, yes, like in the room behind Ifa’s clinic, but not in a bed like the one they were about to share this time. The thought made Ifa feel a little uneasy. Not because he disliked Ororon or anything ,oh no, quite the contrary in fact, perhaps it was precisely because he liked him a little too much, so the idea of sharing a bed with him made him feel a little nervous and warm on the inside. But that feeling was not something he wished to dwell on right now. Ororon and he were friends, best friends, and Ifa was already extremely grateful for that.
Ororon, who seemed completely unbothered by the whole situation, quickly claimed the left side of the bed for himself, the side that was furthest from the door, by placing his bag on that side.
If he doesn’t question it or thinks strange of it, then maybe I shouldn’t overthink it either. Sharing a gigantic four-poster bed with a friend on vacation is perfectly normal, right?
His thoughts were quickly interrupted when Cacucu gave him a little push on the shoulder to nudge him further forward. Until now, he was just standing awkwardly in the doorway and hasn’t moved an inch.
“Hey bro, can we please please watch one of those movie thingies? I really want to try out this machine.” Ororon spoke with the delight of a small child while looking up at Ifa from the bed with wide eyes and a slightly pouty lower lip. Ifa could hardly say no to Ororon as it is, but especially not when he looked at him like that. He sometimes wondered if Ororon was doing this on purpose or not.
“Sure bro, why not?” “Sure thing, bro!” agreed Cacucu as well.
As if the day hadn’t been already exhausting enough, everything that they have experienced so far combined would turn out to be the lesser of the two evils. Later that afternoon, right after completing their first little tour of the city, past the beautiful fountain in the heart of the Court de Fontaine, past numerous shops, selling all sorts of clothes and perfumes and after Ororon, of course, had rented a movie for the evening, the three of them finally arrived at the Palais Mermonia where the full extend of the chaos would unfold.
As pretty as the Nation of Justice was, it nevertheless brought with it a strange set of rules and laws that travelers from afar could hardly truly prepare for. One of these ridiculous laws for example was the one concerning certain “flying objects.” According to the laws of Fontaine, it is forbidden to release a flying object during the first three days of a month, and, as it turns out, the guards of that place seemed to think Cacucu was such a flying object. But really, Cacucu? An object? It was quite rude to consider him as such. No way.
But when Ifa tried to explain that to the guards, they didn’t seem to be listening properly and wanted to take Cacucu away. Naturally, and understandably, Cacucu resisted. He was a living being after all. Of course, he would feel scared and stressed out when threatened like this. The chase was utter chaos. Neither the guards were able to catch the distressed Qucusaurus, nor was Ifa able to calm his agitated friend. The last thing he saw was Cacucu flying through an open window into a nearby building, and since then, he lost sight of him.
Ifa was inconsolable when he failed to get Cacucu back that day. They did encounter Kinich again after that, and this time with the Traveler and Paimon in tow, but even they could only offer him limited help in reuniting him with his little Cacucu. The way things were looking, they would probably keep Cacucu for a few more days but Lumine assured him that he was fine and in best care in there, though it did little to ease Ifa’s worry.
No one was able to truly cheer Ifa up since. He has never been separated from the little fella for so long since he took him in. Sure, he was often gone for a few hours on his own, or at most half a day, but even in these situations, he would always return to him before dark. The situation now was completely different, and he could not stop himself from worrying about him.
“You need to calm down, bro. Cacucu is fine, you heard the traveler. He wouldn’t want you to act like this because of him,” Ororon tried to cheer him up a bit later that same day. He suggested that they should return to the hotel a little earlier and distract themselves with the movie he’d rented. A clear attempt to combine his two interests “cheer Ifa up” and “watch that movie”, but Ifa didn’t really mind. Maybe a little distraction would do him good.
Having returned to the hotel once more and after they settled in, a new problem arose as soon as they started watching the film. Or rather, it was an old problem Ifa had tried to ignore but was now surfacing once more. They still had only one bed in the room, which meant they’d also be sharing it while watching the movie. That familiar uneasy and anxious feeling from before returned to Ifa as Ororon patted on the still empty side of the bed beside him expectantly, inviting Ifa to join him.
It’s not that big of a deal, is it? Stop thinking too much about it!
Although the new situation initially seemed somewhat unusual and slightly awkward, the veterinarian had to admit after a while that it wasn’t nearly as bad as he had feared beforehand, mainly because the film served as a welcome distraction. The movie was interesting and easy enough to follow. It was about two girls whose mother was mysteriously murdered when they were still young, and the girls swore revenge on whoever was responsible for this. The plot became increasingly suspenseful as it progressed, and it was hard not to empathize with the two sisters; the atmosphere and feelings between them were captured perfectly.
There were a few moments during the movie when Ifa was slightly distracted and found himself secretly catching glimpses at his best friend out of the corner of his eye. His friend was so engrossed in the story that he was slightly leaning forward with his upper body, as if not to miss any detail. Ifa thought his curiosity was a rather charming trait of his friend. When he caught himself staring though, he quickly shook off the thought and returned his attention to the movie. Now was not the time to be thinking about his best friend that way.
When the film ended and it was finally time for bed, it became increasingly harder to ignore these kinds of thoughts. They talked a bit about the movie for a while lying side by side in the darkness of the room, but even their calming chatter faded after a while until only Ororon’s soft breathing was the only thing to be heard. A clear sign that he was already sleeping safe and sound.
At this very moment, Ifa’s thoughts were the only things swirling through his head, now louder than ever. He was thinking about everything that has happened today, he thought about Cacucu, possibly all alone in the Palais Mermonia and he also thought about Ororon, who was sleeping right next to him. And he was thinking about his own heart that was now pounding very loudly in his chest. His best friend whom he had liked for years at this point - and he had to admit to himself that he liked him much more than just a little – was laying in the same bed as him. Ororon has just accepted this seemingly familiar and intimate situation so naturally with ease that it left Ifa wondering what life with him would actually be like every day.
While his mind conjured up a plateful of all these thoughts, Ifa found it difficult to find enough inner peace to fall asleep. In fact, he felt somewhat guilty for thinking about his friend this way. Ororon was his best friend after all, and only his best friend. Anything beyond that might be going too far or make Ororon feel uncomfortable in some other way. Although being completely honest, it was hard to imagine that happening with Ororon. But Ifa had no other choice, he had to pull himself together. He was lucky enough to be Ororon’s best friend. That was enough.
With a heavy heart but a determined and made-up mind, he moved a little further away from Ororon, as to not accidentally touch him while he was sleeping or disturb him in any other way. And after a few more hours of brooding and tormenting himself, he too finally found his long-awaited sleep.
When Ifa woke up the next morning it wasn’t just because of the dim sunlight tickling his eyelids that gently roused him from his sleep. Just moments before, he was lost in a sweet dream, one he could barely recall. He only remembered that he didn’t want to let go of something warm and soft. But that dream already seemed ages ago when, in addition to the brightness in the room, a soft weight on the mattress beside him became noticeable. Still somewhat sleepy, he slowly opened his eyes, only to discover a pair of pink and blue eyes staring directly at him. They’re really close.
“Morning Ifa!” A familiar voice greeted him cheerfully, but it did little to lessen his shock. Ifa’s body shook so violently that he actually fell off the bed with a loud thud, since he had been sleeping so close to the edge.
“What the hell Ororon?”
Stunned and with a slight pain in his back, the veterinarian sat himself up and finally tried to get his bearings. Not just because of the fall and the shock but also from waking up in general.
“What was that about?” he asked again, giving his friend a questioning look who was sitting on the bed.
“I’m sorry Ifa, I didn’t mean to startle you.” Looking somewhat guilty, he knelt on Ifa’s side of the bed and looked down at him. “But I’ve been awake for quite a while now, and you started talking at one point, although very quietly. I thought I heard you say my name, so I wanted to listen very carefully if something's wrong.”
Ororon’s explanation made as much sense as it didn’t. Perfectly in character for him actually. With a sigh, Ifa simply ran a hand through his messy white morning hair. “And what did I say?” He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to know the answer to that question. Ororon just shrugged slightly, a thoughtful look on his face.
“I don’t know. You kept saying something along the lines of ‘Please don’t go!’ but I don’t know why. I wasn’t planning on leaving without you anyway.”
“I see,” Ifa murmured, trying in vain to recall his dream. Did his dream have anything to do with Ororon or was it just a coincidence?
“Anyways, since you’re awake now, you should get ready. I really want to try one of those quasong things for breakfast, and then we can go to the Chevrolamine Film Festival grounds!” he butchered both pronunciations horribly, “Oh and I really want to see more of those films. Can we please rent another one and watch it while we’re here?” His mismatched eyes seemed to sparkle with excitement as he looked at Ifa again with that irresistible look on his face. How could he refuse Ororon anything?
“Sure bro. We can do that.”
After their breakfast together at the hotel, Ifa and Ororon finally set off for the main venue of the film festival which was located on a beach just outside the city. The sky was clear that day and the sun filled the air with a pleasant summer warmth which was made even milder by the refreshing sea breeze. Since Ifa was still a little suspicious about the Fontainian boats from his miserable experience yesterday, he was very glad when they agreed to simply walk to the venue today.
When they finally arrived at their destination, the two of them were amazed by the view. The square was impressively and beautifully designed and the attention to detail that was put into it was evident at every corner. A different stall was set up around each and every corner offering something new to see. Children were running all over the place, pulling their parents with them through the crowd and the sweet scent of cotton candy filled the air. And, needless to say, every stall was completely themed around movies.
One of the attractions that particularly caught their eye was an event called “Eclectic Escapades,” where you could relive scenes from well-known and popular movies. Everyone who stepped back from the experience looked as if they had just witnessed the most incredible and amazing thing in the world, something they absolutely had to recommend to everyone around them. Ororon too seemed very curious about this and watched the proceedings with shining eyes from under his hood, which he usually put on when they were out in public.
It was a habit of his since he felt somewhat insecure and self-conscious around strangers because of his ears. He never did it when just Ifa was around, which was a fact that filled the vet with pride.
“You wanna try it?” Ifa asked him after a while of watching what was happening, but Ororon quickly shook his head.
“Oh no that might not be the best idea. I’m quite content watching the others have fun. Besides, even if I wanted to go, I would probably have to do it alone, otherwise you’d probably feel sick again. You can’t even handle boat rides after all.” Ororon explained his reasoning as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean, bro?” Ifa protested, half offended, half amused.
“It means I’d rather do something with you. Come!” Without explaining anything else, he grabbed Ifa by the wrist and pulled him through the crowd. Even after they escaped the crowd, Ororon didn’t let go. Ifa wondered a little what this scene must look like from the outside. They probably looked like a couple holding hands like this, weren’t they? Ifa’s heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly felt very warm. Embarrassed by his own reaction, he pulled his hat down a little further with his free hand.
Several of the booths they approached were each dedicated to a specific movie. There were movies and posters for sale, short video clips to watch, merchandise lined the rows from top to bottom and many film fans and movie enjoyers were chatting animatedly about their favorite movies, discussing and comparing stories, characters and settings. Ifa heard two men debating which one was better “Rainbow Eye” or “Commission: Impossible,” while also passing a woman who was enthusiastically describing the plot of “Doctor When”. Not that Ifa knew what any of this meant.
That reminded Ifa that Ororon was also looking for another film for them to watch. He gently squeezed his friend’s hand to get his attention, and he could’ve sworn he felt a slight jolt run through the other man’s entire body.
“Do you have any movie in mind yet?” he asked him over the increasingly loud voices. Ororon moved a little closer to properly hear him. He just shrugged somewhat stiffy.
“I don’t know. There’s so many to choose from and they all seem good. But I want to find the best one. I’d like to ask the vendors themselves what they’d recommend, but they all seem too busy right now.”
Ifa looked around and noticed that it was absolutely packed now. He felt Ororon nervously squeezing his hand. After a group of people passed by them, Ifa was finally able to see why it had become so crowded all of a sudden.
“No wonder. Looks like there’s a movie fan convention going on here. Maybe it would be best if we go somewhere else for a while and come back later”. Ororon nodded gratefully at this suggestion and together, still hand in hand (Ifa told himself that this was only because they might risk getting separated otherwise), they left this part of the plaza.
A little further away they entered an area with another attraction called “Mellow Manor,” where things seemed a lot quieter. It seemed to be a kind of zoo with many different animals from Fontaine, each of them cuter than the next. Ororon seemed particularly fascinated by the Blubber Beasts and so, just moments after their arrival, he knelt down and started scratching their round bellies which the animals seemed to enjoy very much.
The other little creatures caught wind of that too, and so it wasn’t long before his best friend, and eventually he himself, were surrounded by fluffy little animals, all of whom desperately wanting to be the next to be petted.
They spent a long time like that, side by side, surrounded by small, excited creatures. It felt a little bit like back in Ifa’s clinic in the flower feather clan. The only difference being that he was neither in charge nor responsible for the little critters, since they seemed very healthy. But it gave him the same warm feeling in his stomach as on those afternoons when Ororon visited him after work. It’s too bad that Cacucu couldn’t be here right now... Being reminded of his still missing friend made Ifa’s mood drop significantly.
“Cacucu would have loved it here,” sighed the veterinarian saddened, looking directly into the black eyes of a blubber beast that seemed to wonder if he was alright.
“Yeah, that’s true,” Ororon replied. He too sounded lost in thought, but Ifa didn’t dwell on it too much, since his melancholic thoughts were drifting further and further away. Was Cacucu alright? The two of them had never been separated for so long. What if something happened to him, or what if Cacucu missed him too? As if Ororon could read his mind, he patted Ifa encouragingly on the shoulder.
“I know what you’re thinking. But Cacucu is fine, I can assure you. He’s a big boy now. And you have to be too, okay? Cacucu wouldn’t want you to be sad because of him.” A faint but honest and encouraging smile graced Ororon’s lips as he spoke. A heartwarming sight, Ifa thought for a moment, but he couldn't bring himself to stare any longer and instead fixed his gaze at the tattoo beneath Ororon’s eye.
“Thanks, bro,” he sighed and tried to return the smile. “Just give me a moment.”
“Take as much time as you need. You can keep scratching their little tummies some more if it helps you feel better. I think it’s a little less crowded over there now. I’ll go look for a good movie for us to watch tonight, alright? Is it okay for you to wait here for so long?” His eyes looked directly at him again, intensely but with honest concern.
“Sure thing. I’ll wait here.”
As it turned out, Ororon had been gone for longer than initially anticipated. Ifa was still waiting for him, still surrounded by dozens of animals, but after a while he began to seriously worry about him. He knew that Ororon could be kind of slow when he was taking his time, or getting distracted by all kinds of side quests, but this seemed rather unusual, even for him.
Ifa waited for a little longer but then decided to give in to his uneasy conscious and carefully stood up (he had to carefully remove a sleeping rabbit from his lap) to go look for Ororon, but his plan became quickly unnecessary.
He could see Ororon returning at that very moment. In his arms, he carried a pink and blue box covered in stickers that was way too large for Ifa’s liking. He raised one of his eyebrows and eyed the box suspiciously.
“Why on earth are you carrying that box with you?” he asked, already getting a bad feeling about this but Ororon waited to answer his question until he stopped right in front of Ifa with a smug look that boded ill.
“I was renting movies,” he simply said, as if that would explain everything that was happening. But for Ifa, it explained absolutely nothing.
“I can see that. Just how many are this?”
Ororon didn’t answer him immediately, instead he basked for a moment in his best friend’s tense confusion. He seemed rather desperate to get his story off his chest, but not without fully savoring the moment.
“So, here’s the thing: I went over there to rent a new movie for us. But, of course, it couldn’t be just any movie, oh no, I had to make sure it was the best one possible. So, I started asking around. The problem was that all the movies sounded really good, but none of them were ‘perfect.’ It was a pretty tough decision. Like having to decide whether to harvest the tomatoes or carrots on my field first."
"Well, anyways, I was almost ready to make up my mind, but I was approached by a truly remarkable person who must have noticed my intentions. She seemed very trustworthy despite wearing a hood. She didn’t seem to be from Fontaine either. Actually, she didn’t even look like she was from Teyvat at all, but anyway, that’s beside the point.” He cleared his throat briefly. His description of a trustworthy person sounded honestly very suspicious, but Ifa didn’t have it in him tell him that right now.
“We chatted for a while, and I immediately noticed that we are on the same wavelength. So, I told her about my problem, and she helped me to solve it. She suggested not just a single movie, but a whole movie series instead. It’s a very popular one. She said it might seem a little bit overwhelming at first, but once you get into it, it’s totally worth it. That was her opinion anyways, and I trust her.”
“How can you trust someone with this you just met? You don’t even know her name or who she is.”
“I know her name. She asked me to call her the Night Emissary.” Okay, that sounded even more suspicious.
“That’s not a real name.”
“But it IS something I can call her!” Ororon pouted slightly, to which Ifa could only react with a defeated sigh. He regarded the movie box once more with skepticism, as if expecting some kind of twist or joke. But nothing like that happened.
“And how many films did she sell you?”
“She didn’t try to sell me anything, Ifa. It was a recommendation from a film enthusiast to a newcomer like me. She even lent me her personal collection. The films are based on a book series that has been very popular in Fontaine and Inazuma for years. It’s called ‘The Amphoreus-Saga’ and recently each of the eight books have gotten a film adaptation.”
“Excuse me, eight movies? That’s going to be pretty tight, even if we watch a movie every single evening.”
“Oh no, you’re wrong Ifa. These movies are meant to be watched in what the locals here refer to as a ‘film marathon.’ You’re meant to binge watch them in one go. That’s what Miss Night Emissary recommended, and I certainly don’t want to offend the local traditions.”
“Eight movies in a row?!” said Ifa shocked. “Who in their right mind has that much time to watch eight movies in one go?”
“Well, we do. We’re on vacation after all.” Ororon said simply, but for Ifa it was everything but simple. Technically he was right, they had that kind of free time, but still, the thought of sitting next to Ororon in that one bed for hours long? He felt a rush of heat return to his cheeks. There was no way his heart could handle that.
“You know we can take our time, right?” Ifa tried to argue, but he was almost certain it wouldn’t make any difference anyway.
“In theory, yes. But Ifa, the vendor said that this would offer the best experience and I trust her. I feel a connection between me and her, you know?” He almost whispered that last part and glanced briefly upwards, as if that would be enough for Ifa to understand. But to be quite honest, he didn’t. If Ororon said it like that, it could mean at least a million different things.
In response to Ifa’s somewhat questioning look, Ororon approached him (as close as he could with the huge box still in his arms) and whispered to him, “I think she’s weird too.”
“Ah, you don’t say.” Ifa said ironically with a toneless voice and a deadpan expression, which Ororon didn’t seem to catch. Ifa knew better than to comment on it any further. Besides, there are bigger problems to discuss. Like the problem of Ifa’s sleeping schedule being threatened by a sleepless night.
“Okay bro, listen. I understand where your suggestion is coming from, and I promise you we will watch all of the movies. But please, let’s just take our time with it, okay? Eight movies in a row seems very tiring.”
But Ororon didn’t particularly seem to like that idea and didn’t give him an answer immediately, instead he appeared to be thinking about something very intensely. A few moments later, however, he seemed to have come up with an idea.
“I know how we can resolve this disagreement,” he announced. A sinister grin spread across his face, and he shifted the weight of the box so that he was holding it with only one arm. He extended his now-free hand towards Ifa and closed it to a fist.
“Let’s play rock-paper-scissors! If you win, we’ll watch the movies your way, but if I win, we’ll be doing a film marathon today. Deal?”
Ifa just sighed, knowing there was no getting out of this one. It seems luck would be the final factor deciding his fate. Admittedly, it might be the easiest solution, one that would avoid any further discussion with his friend. So sure why not? Who knows, he might even win.
“Alright fine,” he replied, now also extending his fist, ready to play. “One round and the winner decides.”
“Got it. But I won’t lose.”
“We’ll see about that. So:”
“Rock, paper, scissors!” they both said at the same. Ifa chose rock. It was the first thing that came to mind. But when he glanced over at Ororon’s hand, a chill ran down his spine. Paper.
Ororon was the winner.
Having been defeated fair and square, Ifa had no other choice than to comply with Ororon’s wishes. On their rather uneventful journey back to the hotel, Ifa remained quiet, lost in his own headspace. He had no idea how he was supposed to manage this. Eight movies in a row next to hist best bro in the same bed. How was he supposed to stay calm like this? He would lose his mind, that’s for sure. There was no way around it. How was his heart supposed to survive this without exploding right there in his chest?
Even though he didn’t say much on their way back, the journey wasn’t completely silent either because Ororon, who looked quite pleased with himself, was quietly humming a tune to himself, somewhat offkey but he seemed so carefree and content. He looked very sweet like this.
When they arrived back at their hotel room, the sun was already setting. Both men changed into more comfortable clothes before their movie watching activity, and Ifa, who had changed in the little bathroom, was taking his time. With a slight pang of anxiety in his chest, he looked at himself in the mirror and tried to fix his hair somehow. He had no idea why he was doing this. Probably to stall time, right?
“You can do it. It’s no big deal,” he whispered to his own reflection, which of course had nothing smart to say back to him, so he kept looking at his silently staring self.
When he re-entered the room, now in more suitable clothes, Ororon was already comfortably settled on the bed and was intently studying the cover of the first movie. When he noticed Ifa, he looked up at him with delight.
“Ifa!” he said with such joy and excitement in his voice that the person whose name was being called felt a warm glow in their heart. The curtains of the windows had already been drawn, and the film was prepared and ready to be watched, as the screen was quietly flickering, slightly illuminating the otherwise dimmed room.
“Come on, sit down, then we can begin.” Ororon patted the empty side of the bed next to him with the remote he was holding. “And you can come a little closer this time. Wouldn’t want you falling off again~” There was an unmistakable teasing undertone in his voice which immediately prompted Ifa to defend himself. It was Ororon’s fault in the first place, wasn’t it? Well, sort of. Somehow?
“That was just because-“ but he quickly stopped himself. Otherwise, he’d have to admit that he was only sleeping so close to the edge because of them sharing a bed, and that would lead to a lot more uncomfortable questions. So, he just gave up and crawled into bed next to his friend without any protest, deliberately paying attention as to not touch him directly. He wouldn’t be able to handle that right now.
His friend, however, had other plans because the gap that Ifa carefully left between them was occupied by a certain archer just seconds later, so that their sides were directly touching now.
Ifa felt a sudden wave of coldness engulf him, followed by a burning heat that spread throughout his body. Cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck, and he couldn’t help but do something to break the silence, which seemed to be making his symptoms worse.
“What’ya looking at?” he awkwardly changed the subject and pointed at a notebook in Ororon’s lap, which he just noticed now but has never seen in his friend’s possession before.
“Oh this?” He tapped the cover with two fingers. “I bought this to take some notes. I don’t want to forget any important details for later, you know?”
Ifa raised an eyebrow in surprise but didn’t look directly at his friend. “Uh, okay if you say so bro. But don’t ask me too many hard questions later. I’m planning to watch this just for entertainment,” he mumbled the last part more to himself.
“Oh, by the way, have a look. This is the first part.” He handed Ifa the cover, which he himself had just been looking at. Grateful for the distraction, he took it from him and examined it.
The first thing that caught his eye was the large title at the top. There, in beautifully written letters, it read: “The Amphoreus-Saga,” and directly below: “Paean of Era Nova.” Next to the title was the depiction of a blonde woman with a rather striking pair of green eyes. From her fingertips seemed to emanate something like golden threads which wound their way around the entire cover. She appeared somewhat distant, yet at the same time calm and all-knowing.
Beneath the woman in the center of the cover was the imposing figure of a monster, roaring with rage and ready for battle. Three figures facing the monster in a battle-ready pose adorned the bottom of the cover. In the center was a gray-haired woman holding what appeared to be a baseball bat. The man to her right was tall, blond and very muscular with numerous red lines drawn across his bare torso. The man on the left also had gray hair, though a much lighter shade. He wore a long white coat and held a sword in his right hand, ready for combat.
“It looks very appealing. Beautiful art style,” commented Ifa somewhat absentmindedly while avoiding looking at Ororon.
“Let’s start then!”
With an approving nod, Ororon pressed play on the remote and the movie began to play. Ifa hoped the movie would distract him somehow from the closeness to his friend, but the constant warm presence leaning against his left arm made it difficult not to notice.
As the movie began to tell its story, Ifa repeatedly observed out of the corner of his eye how Ororon would occasionally write something down. Mostly when a new character was introduced or when there was something new to learn about the world.
The movie told the story of a group of interstellar travelers searching for fuel for their express ship, heading for a hidden world, previously unseen by everyone else in the universe. Before they could land on that planet, however, one member of the express crew fell ill, and the film’s protagonist and their male companion decided to explore the planet, Amphoreus, on their own. During their entry, something went terribly wrong, leaving the two stranded and severely injured on this unknown planet, with no contact to the outside world.
The plot seemed interesting enough to follow so far, but Ifa noticed how he was constantly being distracted. Ororon’s presence and warmth kept him in a constant state of rapid heartbeat, and he was repeatedly made aware of the situation they were in. Together in one bed, planning to watch a whole bunch of movies on their vacation, so close that their sides were touching.
Yea, it was pretty hard not to acknowledge the romantic undertone. This was more than something two regular bros would do. This seemed more like a couple’s activity. But damn it, Ifa had to admit to himself that he kind of liked the idea.
Yes, he knew that if he gave in to his feelings and risked his friendship with Ororon to pursue a romantic relationship, it would certainly satisfy a part of him. But what if it totally backfired and he would lose his best friend instead? He couldn’t risk that. Ororon was too important to him. Besides, even if he would suddenly start flirting with Ororon now it would probably just go straight over his head anyway. If anyone knew about that, it was Ifa.
But then again, if Ororon didn’t interpret any attempt to get closer to him in that way anyway, then what was stopping Ifa from doing it? What if he simply gave in to the urge and, at least for a while, pretended this was a real date and Ororon wasn’t his best friend, but his boyfriend instead? Only in his head of course. Not in reality.
But would that be fair to him?
On the other hand, he would never find out, right? And Ifa would never do anything to him he didn’t want to anyway. But just imagining it wasn’t a crime, was it?
Still fighting with himself, he finally gave in to the loud voice in his heart. From now on, only in his mind, he imagined that Ororon was his boyfriend. Just for this one night. A one-time thing. Ororon would never know.
Ifa was usually not a selfish person, but was it so bad to be selfish once in a while?
With a slightly lighter heart the veterinarian sighed silently, momentarily banishing all those tormenting thoughts. When Ororon, who was intently taking notes beside him, leaned slightly forward so that their arms weren’t touching anymore, Ifa used that brief moment to lean back against the headboard, casually placing both arms behind his neck.
The thought that he would’ve liked to put his arm around Ororon like that crossed his mind, and although he wouldn’t do that without permission, it felt close enough in this position. It was enough for Ifa to indulge in his daydreams for a while.
In the movie, the two traveling companions have now arrived in a city on the alien planet where the story was gradually unfolding. In the world of Amphoreus, there were a total of twelve titans who, as gods of this world, created humankind and civilization. But due to an unforeseen crisis, the titans had fallen ill and lost their minds. To defend themselves against a mysterious thread called the black tide, the two companions joined a group of people who called themselves the “Chrysos Heirs.” All of these were chosen individuals with golden blood flowing through their veins, who had the potential to become demigods themselves in order to bring about an “Era Nova.”
To achieve this, the Chrysos Heirs have begun the “Flame-Chase Journey” to gather the titan’s twelve coreflames. And their next target was the Strife Titan, Nikador, who, as it turned out, was also the very being that attacked the two travelers upon entering the planet.
Up until now, it was quite manageable to follow everything, Ifa thought, especially since a clear goal was now emerging for what the heroes wanted to achieve. As they approached the fortress of Castum Kremnos, however, Ifa felt his concentration began to falter slightly. Instead of continuing to focus on the plot, he discreetly glanced over at Ororon, who was still alternating between watching the film intently and busily writing something in his notebook. Ifa noticed a very focused look on his face, even occasionally biting his lower lip in concentration, which Ifa found very endearing.
At that moment, he wished even more that he’d have the guts to simply put his arm around Ororon. Physically, he wasn’t that far from actually doing it. But he also didn’t want to go too far. Imagining it in his mind was one thing, but that shouldn’t affect his actions in reality. But if he just rested his arm on the headboard behind him, that should be okay, right?
In the end, he feigned a yawn, hoping it would somehow disguise his intentions, stretching so that his left arm now rested on the headboard behind Ororon. For a split second, Ifa was shocked at himself for what he’d just done and almost pulled his arm back immediately but then decided to just leave it there. It would draw way too much attention to his theatrics otherwise.
He inwardly wanted to slap himself, even though he’d done exactly what his heart told him to do. Ororon, who obviously noticed the whole thing, glanced curiously at Ifa, but didn’t say anything about it.
It was only a couple of minutes later, when Ifa blew it by accidentally touching Ororon’s shoulder, for which he cursed himself and muttered a broken “Oh, sorry dude.” Ororon, somewhat hesitantly now commented on their new position.
“You can put your arm around me, if you like. I don’t mind.”
Hearing that, Ifa’s heart sank deep into his chest and he felt a cold sweat break out once more. Did he just hear that right? No way, bro. That must’ve been daydream-Ororon whispering to him, right?
“A-are you sure?" He asked, his voice filled with confusion while glancing uncertainly at the archer. Ororon, however, simply looked away with his head slightly bowed hiding his expression and nodded weakly while simultaneously shrugging his shoulders indifferently.
Ifa blinked a few times, unable to fully grasp the situation. Ororon was okay with it? Just like that? He must be way stronger than Ifa if he could say things like that so easily, that’s fore sure. It’s always so impressive how he could so easily articulate even the most complex things in his very own and unique way. This man was afraid of nothing.
Somewhat hesitantly, but with a tenderness he usually reserved for gravely ill saurians, Ifa finally placed his left arm around Ororon’s shoulders. A warm shiver spread from his arm, enveloping every cell in his body. When the warmth reached his stomach, it was as if all the butterflies trapped in there had been released, and they now spread weightlessly throughout his entire body, amplifying the warmth with a dancing, tingling sensation.
His heart was beating a little faster again, and he hoped Ororon wouldn’t notice. Then again, how could he not notice when they were this close?
Ifa had to admit though, and he wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not, that the feeling of Ororon in his arms felt very natural. Like it was meant to be. As if it was the most normal thing in the world, that should’ve already happened a long time ago. Something destined to be that way.
Half an hour ago, he had been content with merely imagining what it would be like, and now it was real. The flush rising to Ifa’s cheeks at that thought didn’t exactly help him process the situation any better.
He wasn’t sure if he was the luckiest or unluckiest man in all of Teyvat.
The two remained in this position for the rest of the film, and although the tingling subsided after a while, the warmth and the feeling that this is right did not.
In the story, the heroes had just managed to defeat the titan, and after one of them took on the task of passing Strife’s trial to become the wielder of the newly acquired coreflame, the credits of the first movie began to roll.
An uncomfortably awkward silence fell between them and after Ororon had finished writing his last sentence in his notebook, they both sat there, somewhat motionless, Ifa’s arm still around Ororon’s shoulders. It was as if neither of them really wanted to get out of this situation.
Or was it simply Ifa who thought this way? Maybe Ororon was just waiting for him to let go. When the silence became unbearable and Ifa couldn’t stand it any longer, he tried to find a topic, any topic, to start a conversation.
“Do you think he’ll pass the trial?” Talking about the movie was probably the most logical and sensible thing to do.
Ororon’s gaze flickered briefly to Ifa, then back to his notes. “Hmm, I don’t know. Phainon really seems to want to become a hero, and I’m sure he’ll achieve that eventually, but I’m not sure if this is the right trial for him. Something feels off about that, but I don’t know.”
Ifa thought about Ororon’s theory for a moment and tried to come up with a follow up question to keep the conversation going. “Did they say what happens if you fail?”
Ororon frowned for a moment and looked up at the ceiling. “I don’t think so. Definitely nothing good. But I don’t think his friends would let him die in there. They’d save him.”
“You mean his best friend, sorry rival, would burst in and get him out himself?” Ifa’s attempted joke to lighten the mood worked, because Ororon began to grin slightly.
“Probably. Even though they’re constantly arguing and claiming that they’re fierce rivals, I think he would save him. Or save him and then do better at the trial. To be honest, I think their relationship a bit hard do understand.” Thoughtful but still in good spirits, he turned back a page in his notebook.
“You think so? I thought it’s quite clear, despite their rivalry, how highly they think of each other. Not that they would ever admit it, but they still would do anything for the other.”
A silent Oh formed on Ororon’s lips as if he just realized a very important connection. He immediately began scribbling something eagerly on the side of the page. Ifa couldn’t make out what it was, since he turned the notebook slightly away from him. “So, they do like each other!”
“Well, I’d bet on that. Maybe they like each other even more than that.” Maybe in the same way I feel about you. He kept the last part to himself.
“What do you mean by even more?” the bat whispered the last part almost breathlessly.
Now it was Ifa’s turn to look up at the ceiling because when Ororon’s curious gaze pierced him, he had already looked at every other spot in the room, the floor, bed, walls, you name it. He cleared his throat briefly before speaking.
“It might be love.”
Ororon said nothing, but even without looking, he could sense that his friend continued to stare at him for quite some time, as if he’d realized something important. “That makes so much sense,” he exclaimed and was already engrossed in his notes again, crossing something out and adding something elsewhere. Only after a few minutes did he speak up again.
“If we really want to find out what happens next, we need to watch the next one.”
“Right. We still have a lot ahead of us.”
Once again there was silence during which neither of them moved, and only after about thirty seconds did Ororon clear his throat, visibly amused. “Ifa, I can only change the movie if you let go of me.” There was no accusation in his voice but rather a cute playful tone, yet Ifa immediately felt an embarrassing flush on his face, and he almost instantly took his arm away from Ororon.
“S-Sorry,” he coughed awkwardly, wishing a hole would open up beneath him.
Ororon, who seemed completely unfazed, was instead busy with putting in the DVD for the next movie. In the meantime, he handed Ifa the cover of the second movie, for which he was very grateful. At least this provided some distraction from the fact that he had made a total fool out of himself.
The title, just like on the first movie cover, stretched across the top third and promised in a beautifully written fond: “The Amphoreus-Saga: Light Slips the Gate Shadow Greets the Throne.” Below it, the blonde man he recognized as Mydei was depicted in large print holding some kind of crystal in his left hand while to his right the three little red-haired girls, Tribbie, Trianne and Trinon, flew on a rocket.
After having put in the new film, Ororon sat back down next to Ifa, just as close as before. This time, however, he also put the blanket over the both of them with very great care. Beneath the blanket, Ifa felt their legs lightly touching.
The air felt suddenly way too thin and a slight wave of dizziness washed over him. After a couple of moments, he was quickly brought back to reality by Ororon who gently bumped into his shoulder. He looked very expectantly into Ifa’s eyes but was only met with confusion in return.
Ororon looked intently at Ifa’s upper arm and then back up at his eyes, excitedly trying to convey his message without using words. He had to repeat this gesture a few more times before giving up because Ifa was really not getting it.
Sighing silently and still stubborn enough to not speak his intention out loud, he took Ifa’s arm and lifted it above him. Only now did Ifa understand what he wanted. He wanted him to put his arm around him again!
To prevent Ororon from awkwardly fiddling with his arm any longer, he helped him out with the last bit and put his arm back around Ororon’s shoulder. Ororon, seemingly satisfied now, finally started the movie with a rather content grin, apparently believing that he didn’t need to explain any of this.
For Ifa, however, only one thing was clear: Ororon voluntarily wanted this and he seems to enjoy it too.
How was any of this making sense?
Even though Ifa initially refused to admit it, he must now admit that he had quickly grown accustomed to their newfound closeness, way quicker than he had ever imagined (which he started doing like an hour ago). It felt so natural and comfortable that he couldn’t quite fathom why they didn’t do this before. Is it crazy to think that way now when he was completely freaking out earlier? In his state of utter complacency, the thought of having needlessly worried before crept into his mind. Maybe he really should try to pursue a romantic relationship with Ororon. He rather liked that thought.
During the second movie, Ifa had also begun to gently move his fingertips over Ororon’s shoulder, carefully and repeatedly tracing the patterns of his tattoos on his skin. Almost like an addicting game, it put him into a blissful trance. Under the covers, their legs, and by now their thighs too, were still touching, since neither of them had moved away from the other.
And not only that, sometime between the scenes, Ifa wasn’t sure how much time had passed, something else happened. At first, it was just a sensation, like a tickle. He thought he’d imagined it at first, but no, at some point Ororon had quietly placed his right hand on Ifa’s thigh, just above his knee. The touch was very tentative and shyly hidden under the blanket, but it was enough to make the butterflies in Ifa’s stomach flutter again.
When he glanced at Ororon for a short moment, he could only see him engrossed in his notebook once more, but he did notice that his friend was now holding the pen in his other free hand. His left hand. Come to think of it, Ororon was actually right-handed. The fact that he had sacrificed his dominant writing hand to place his hand on Ifa’s leg had therefore been a deliberate choice. Oh Archons.
In this moment, Ifa felt like the happiest man in Teyvat.
It was only natural that something, perhaps fate, would use this situation against him, bringing his arrogant high come crashing down back to the ground. Unexpectedly and without any warning, a rather special scene unfolded in the movie.
The scene took place in one of the bathhouses in the main city, where the two male leads, Phainon and Mydei, were about to engage in another one of their endless duels. A duel in the sauna as it initially seemed. However, things went somewhat differently than expected. While a narrator recounted their fight as if on a legendary battlefield, the screen slowly darkened to a dull black. In the background there was a deep heavy breathing to hear, first faint, then growing ever louder.
The scene continued like this, and the heavy breathing gradually turned into groans, the two men’s voices clearly decipherable. It was a moan so deep, filled with affection and longing, that it sent some sort of shivers down your spine.
Yea, there was no doubt about it that these two men were engaging in something more than just a sauna battle…
The reality of the situation suddenly hit Ifa like a flat board against his head. He was lying here with his best friend in his arms, while watching a movie in which two grown men were clearly implied to have loud and passionate love-hate sex.
He was basically watching inexplicit porn with Ororon and the loud moans of the men blared from the speakers at a way too high volume filling the whole room.
The closeness to his friend which he had enjoyed so much suddenly settled over him like a rigid, heavy blanket. His face grew hot and every muscle in his body froze, afraid of making a wrong move. Or any move at all. He didn’t even dare glance in Ororon’s direction because he has the uneasy feeling that Ororon was experiencing something similar. His hand on Ifa’s thigh was still there but it suddenly became stiff and cramped.
He prayed to some God or Archon or whatever that the scene would soon be over and that the whole uncomfortable situation between them would simply be swept under the rug until both of them would forget about it, but whoever was responsible for writing the script for this movie decided that the scene could not be any less long nor intense, not until it was crystal clear for every viewer that these two men had very specific feelings for each other.
But the worst part of this situation, and yes it could go even worse, was Ifa’s own treacherous mind which suddenly planted a new thought in his head.
What would Ororon sound like in a situation like this? Would his soft moans be filled with equal intense feelings?
Shocked by his own thoughts Ifa almost choked on thin air. But now that the Pandora’s box had been opened, there was no turning back. Images suddenly flashed up in his mind, scenes that he had forbidden himself to ever think about. Images of Ororon being pressed into a mattress, gazing imploringly up at him through half-lidded eyes, while finally, with a passion similar to that of the men in the movie, beginning to make the most heavenly sounds imaginable, played out in Ifa’s mind.
Fuck stop thinking that!
But no matter how hard he tried to admonish himself, Ororon’s voice, which lovingly moaned his name over and over again in his head, grew louder.
The damage was now irreversibly done, for Ifa felt something stir in his pants at these thoughts. He was mortified by the realization. How could he possibly think such a thing about his dear friend? How could his body betray him and dare to react like this? Ororon’s hand, still lying motionless on his thigh, was simultaneously too close yet too far away at the same time, and he could feel its presence as clearly as his own heart raving in his chest.
Fuck I wish he would touch me like that…
Shocked and ashamed of his own thoughts, he put his free hand over his mouth, as if he had just said them out loud. (Which, thanks to the archons, he didn’t).
I bet he feels amazing.
Even though the scene in the movie ended after an incredibly long time, Ifa’s new (un)welcomed thoughts continued to replay in his head and made him hear the same sounds over and over again. He was sure that the rest of the night would be a very long one.
After the whole sauna scene was done, it took quite a while for the strange atmosphere between them to return to some semblance of normalcy. Ifa could tell, because Ororon had started taking notes again, which led him to believe that he too was being affected by it in some way. But apparently not in a way that would give him any need to pull his hand away.
While Ifa continued fighting with his thoughts, he eventually closed his eyes, hoping it would help him to regain focus, but it unfortunately only worsened his mental state. No matter how much he tried to focus on the rest of the movie, he simply couldn’t.
Only a gentle nudge against his side brought him back to reality after who knows how long. Back to their hotel room. Back to the movie that, as he realized, was already over. And back to Ororon who sat somewhat motionless beside him. To avoid a similar situation to the previous one, he removed his arm from Ororon in advance, but it didn’t appear to be the reason this time for his missing reaction. He remained motionless and lost in thought.
Only now, at this very moment as the silence slowly occupied the room, did Ifa notice that something was different about Ororon’s hand on his thigh. He was no longer resting his hand in the same place as before. His hand had moved at one point, who knows when, to the inside of Ifa’s thigh. Panic spread through the latter upon realizing this. How did he only notice this now? When did this happen? Why did he like it so much? This was way too close. If Ororon noticed the state his body was in-
“Ororon?” Ifa’s voice had a higher pitch than usual, and he cleared his throat nervously, fighting back the panic. He felt dizzy.
“Do you mind changing the movie this time?”
Ifa looked at Ororon somewhat puzzled, but the archer didn’t meet his gaze.
“Um sure, I can do that bro.”
He didn’t really like the idea of having to get up like this. But the room should be dark enough, so maybe no one but himself would notice the problem his treacherous body has placed upon himself.
Still stalling for a little bit more time, he decided to lean over to grab the CD case of the second film from Ororon’s nightstand, but he misjudged his balance and ended up leaning further against Ororon as he intended. Their torsos were pressed together intensely for a brief moment that lasted way too long, and his friend still didn’t move an inch. Not even his hand on Ifa’s thigh, which almost led to a disaster.
Knowing full well that he almost made things worse, Ifa admitted that it was pointless to delay getting up any longer. However, there was still the problem with Ororon’s hand. To avoid bringing it up vocally, he instead took Ororon’s hand in his own and guided it away from his thigh and on top of the blanket.
Then he got up and set about to change the movie. When he held the case of the third movie in his hand, his gaze lingered on it for a few seconds. “Through the Petals in the Land of Repose,” was printed on it in the usual font, and admits a field of flowers illuminated by the full moon, he recognized the girl named Castorice, gazing longingly at the sky. Behind her, with his back turned and his hand on his hip, stood the green-haired professor with the eye patch who was introduced in the last movie. Ifa completely blanked on his name.
“I feel kind of sorry for Tribios,” said Ororon out of nowhere. Ifa didn’t expect him to say anything, so he looked over at him all the more surprised when he did speak up.
“Oh? In what way?” He saw Ororon’s eyebrows furrow, as if he was deep in thought about a difficult problem, he couldn’t quite articulate.
“Well, how would you feel if your existence were shattered into a thousand pieces, one after another disappearing until only two of them remain. Isn’t that just… awful?
Ifa, who was invited back to his old spot under the covers, sat down and pondered Ororon’s words for a moment. Was this an allusion to Ororon’s understanding of what it was like to live with an incomplete soul? Ororon hadn’t talked about this subject with him ever since the war.
“It certainly doesn’t sound pleasant. What happened to Trianne in the end was rather tragic.” He didn’t necessarily want to change the subject, but he was worried that Ororon might fall back into his old ways of thinking. He decided not to pursue the topic further himself. It was Ororon’s decision whether he wanted to talk about it or not. Ifa waited to see if Ororon had anything further to add, but he remained silent, his gaze returning to his notebook. As Ifa slipped back under the covers and reached for the remote control, it took Ororon less than three seconds to put his hand back on Ifa’s thigh. It was almost as if he was waiting for him to come back. Before another flood of thoughts had the chance to surge through his mind, he hastily pressed on the play button of the remote and leaned back so that it was harder to discern his expression. One day this man would kill him.
Yet another silence descended upon them. An odd silence. There was nothing to be heard except the light flickering on the screen. Why was it so quiet? Shouldn’t there be like sound coming at least from the movie?
“You know you can start the movie now, Ifa,” Ororon commented, acknowledging the silence that had definitely arisen because the movie was not playing.
“Huh, didn’t I press the button?” Somewhat puzzled, he reached out for the remote again and pressed the play button once more. Still, nothing happened. “Don’t tell me it’s broken?” He fumbled somewhat awkwardly with the remote to find out what’s wrong, but it seemed perfectly fine from the outside.
“Maybe the battery’s dead,” Ororon suggested, shrugging as he also looked at the lifeless remote.
“That might be it.” Ifa opened the remote from the back, and its battery fell out and landed in his lap.
“That’s not good,” he stated the obvious. “Where are we supposed to find a replacement now?” Ororon’s ears dropped, clearly disappointed. The sight was breaking Ifa’s heart. He knew how much Ororon had been looking forward to watching these movies. (And Ifa also kind of wanted to keep cuddling with his best bro while watching them). There must be something he could do.
“Perhaps there’s a spare somewhere in the room?” He opened one of the drawers on his nightstand, but it was completely empty.
“I don’t think so. I didn’t see any in the room.” Sighing and somewhat dejected, he took his hand from Ifa’s thigh and searched through the drawer of the nightstand on his side as well. Ifa hated seeing him like this.
“Maybe they have some at the reception. I could go and ask If you want.”
“You’d do that?” A glimmer of hope was suddenly reflected in Ororon’s heterochromatic eyes and his ears twitched excitedly.
“Sure man. Just gimme a sec,” he said, already getting up.
Once he left the room and was alone in the hallway, he realized how late it must be by now, as it was almost pitch black. There was no light coming from downstairs and he also couldn’t hear any sound from the lobby. It was quite possible that he wouldn’t find anyone at reception.
He decided to try his luck anyway, but just as expected, the same darkness awaited him at the bottom of the stairs. No one was there. A quick glance at the large clock next to the reception told him that it was currently ten past ten. In a last hopeful attempt at getting his hands on a new battery, he looked over the reception desk to see if there was a box with spares behind the counter, but that too proved fruitless.
With a silent and somewhat disappointed sigh, the veterinarian had no choice but to give up. Somewhat downcast, he made his way back upstairs. He wasn’t necessarily too upset about not being able to continue watching the movies, don’t get him wrong, they were very good but one at a day was enough for him, but rather because he had to break the bad news to Ororon. The mere thought of his disappointed expression made his heart ache.
Wasn’t there something else he could do?
On his way back upstairs, he almost took the wrong hallway but corrected his mistake at the last second. It did give him an idea though.
If all the hotel rooms were identically equipped, then surely there must be remote controls in the other rooms as well. And these ones probably still had full batteries. If he’d be able to borrow one of those then the problem would be fixed. He just had to find someone who would open the door for him, but luckily, he knew just the right person.
Kinich also had a room here!
Having returned to the correct corridor this time, Ifa walked past his and Ororon’s room with a slightly quicker, but still quiet step towards the end of the hallway. He still remembered from yesterday that Kinich disappeared into the room on the left. Ifa could only hope that he was still awake or at least able to hear him, which might pose a problem.
You see, on their shared journey to Fontaine, Ifa noticed that the saurian hunter had a rather structured sleep schedule to say the least. He always completed his tasks meticulously before dawn and went to sleep at exactly 9:30pm on the dot, usually while Ifa and Ororon were still sitting by the fireplace chatting. And then it was nearly impossible to wake him. Ajaw always complained about Kinich being like this. But it also meant that Kinich was usually the first one to wake up in the morning and he mostly used that time to prepare breakfast for everyone.
The probability of him already being asleep was high. When Ifa arrived at the door and knocked gently, he prayed silently that Kinich would hear him. He waited patiently, listening for any sounds coming from the other side of the door.
Come on, please be awake, Ifa thought and knocked again after about twenty seconds, this time a little louder. And indeed, this time he heard something from the inside. A rustling and soft creaking. Then he saw how the lights went on, illuminating the small gap underneath the door, and heard several hurried footsteps and muffled murmurs.
The door in front of him flung open with such unexpected force that Ifa flinched violently and took a huge step back. He was so distracted by the shock that he barely registered the strange scene that unfolded before him.
For a split second, he barely recognized the figure standing in front of him. It was the spitting image of Kinich, but his hair was blond instead of black and he emanated an aura that couldn’t be further from Kinich’s calm demeanor. Fiery red eyes stared at him for the fraction of a second, so briefly that Ifa thought his eyes were deceiving him. He blinked several times in confusion, but when he looked again, it was just the ordinary Kinich standing in front of him, the same man he had always known.
Except for the fact that he looked a little more flustered than usual. His black hair, streaked with yellow and green, was disheveled and it was obvious that he was trying to suppress his heavy breathing. He generally looked a little disoriented as he zipped his top all the way up. A soft glowing green and yellow light came from his bracelet, but the colors dimmed as he lowered his arm, obscuring his flushed face.
“Ifa?” Kinich asked somewhat confused while trying to keep his voice steady.
Ifa, still somewhat bewildered by the strange scene, was momentarily speechless. He wasn’t sure if he was just imagining all that. He somehow felt suddenly very intruding and out of place.
“Ah, sorry for disturbing you. Listen, I’m looking for a working battery because the one in our remote died and I couldn’t find anyone at the reception downstairs. Does your room have one and would you mind lending it to us?” He felt a bit silly for having bothered him about something like that.
“You two are still watching movies? At this hour?” One of Kinich’s eyebrows rose skeptically, as if he knew something Ifa didn’t. He felt caught nonetheless and nervously rubbed the back of his neck with one hand.
“Yup,” he popped the P extra loudly, hoping he wouldn’t have to explain anything else. He knew how that sounded to the hunter. Whatever he has to say would probably only make things worse. It didn’t help that they’d accidentally watched inexplicit porn just half an hour ago. Kinich already looked like he suspected that something was going on. “Again, sorry if I woke you up,” he quickly added trying to change the subject.
“It’s alright,” Kinich muttered monotonously, zipping his shirt up again, even though he had already done so. He then turned around to retrieve the remote from his own room, which lay seemingly unused on the small table. The room was unusually quiet and Ifa decided that he didn’t like any silence today.
“It’s pretty quiet. Isn’t Ajaw with you?” Ifa’s absentminded comment was meant as distracting small talk, which he considered perfectly legitimate, since the self proclaimed all-mighty dragon lord hasn’t called him a despicable insect for waking him up yet. He did not, however, anticipate how vehemently Kinich would react to that question. He abruptly stopped mid-movement, and Ifa could see even from a distance and despite the dim light of the night lamp that Kinich was gradually turning red.
“He is inside the bracelet. He’s very offended because he was not allowed to roam around freely outside.” Kinich looked down at his almost rehearsed answer and finally managed to remove the battery.
"So the law got him too?"
"Yes."
Ifa, unable to make sense of this reaction, refrained from making another attempt at small talk. When Kinich handed him the battery on the doorstep, he seemed to have calmed down somewhat, as his expression was back being as neutral and unreadable as possible. “Thanks dude. You’re my lifesaver.”
“It’s okay, really. I know you’d do the same. That’s what friends are for.” The dark-haired man shrugged of the thanks with a wave of his hand.
“I appreciate it, nonetheless. Well, good night then,” he said somewhat awkwardly.
“Thank you.” He paused for a moment. Then he added: “And have watching your ‘movies’ with Ororon.”
This time, Ifa was the one who turned red.
On his way back to his own hotel room, Ifa couldn’t get that strange encounter with Kinich out of his head. Did he just imagine what he saw or was there really someone else in the room? Why was he still awake and behaving so oddly? But then again, it was not possible that he saw someone else, the room was empty, wasn’t it? Confused and clueless, he shook off the thoughts and re-entered their hotel room.
“Ororon, guess what I-“ But Ifa stopped mid-sentence, as his friend was no longer sitting on the bed. He slowly lowered the hand that was triumphantly holding the newly obtained battery. Ororon was standing by an open window, through which a fresh breeze of night air swooshed through the room, seemingly focused on a point in the distance only he could see. Since his lack of any reaction, Ifa tried again by clearing his throat.
“What’ya looking at?”
Ororon, who seemingly only noticed his presence now, turned his head slightly towards him, before looking straight back ahead. “I’m standing guard.” Ifa looked at him with a puzzled expression, but Ororon didn’t feel the need to add anything.
“And… why exactly are you doing this?” Ifa started changing the remote control’s battery.
“To see if the black tide is on its way.”
Ifa almost dropped the remote. “The what? I thought that’s a thing from the movies.”
“You’re right. But isn’t it very similar to the abyss? What if the abyss is deciding to attack the city?”
Ifa scratched the back of his head somewhat perplexed. “It’s never not a possibility. But I think the abyss threat isn’t as high in Fontaine as it is back home or in Nod-Krai. It’s rather unlikely that we’ll be attacked tonight, don’t you think?” The thought of the war and the possibility that a disaster could strike at any moment sent a chill down his spine.
“Hm, maybe you’re right.” Still looking outside, Ororon closed the window and drew the curtain shut.
“Let’s continue watching the movie?” Ifa suggested, already sitting back down on the bed. He only just noticed that Ororon had rearranged their pillows on the bed into some kind of nest. When did he prepare that?
Ororon seemed pleased with how readily Ifa had settled into the newly prepared spot, for a mischievous grin spread across his face. His pensive and heroic moment by the window already forgotten. Instead, he threw himself into Ifa’s arms, who was already happily expecting him to. His heart pounded faster again.
With a glimmer of hope, Ifa shifted his leg towards Ororon, just in case he decided to place his hand on the inside of his thigh again. Less than three seconds later his hope was fulfilled and Ororon’s hand was back. A feeling of contentment a satisfaction joined his racing heart as they started the next movie, in which they would learn about the story of the girl associated with Death.
Even though they didn’t speak much, because this time Ifa too was completely captivated by the movie, theiy remained entwined in Ororon’s makeshift nest. Ifa noticed how the arm he put around Ororon was increasingly falling asleep, but he didn’t dare move it. He would savor it as long as his friend allowed it. In the meantime, said friend had begun to draw small circles on Ifa’s thigh with his fingers. This movement only stopped at the end of the third movie.
Ifa glanced over at Ororon to see if anything was wrong, but the bat had turned his face away.
“Hey, are you okay?” Ifa was immediately alarmed, wondering if something happened or if he did something wrong.
“It’s nothing. Just the movie,” he said, his voice a little broken. Apparently not wanting for Ifa to see him like this, he quickly wiped his eyes and then buried his face in Ifa’s shoulder. “Castorice’s story is just so tragic. She must have felt so terribly lonely all those years.”
He sympathetically ran his fingers through Ororon’s hair, hoping it might offer him some comfort.
“Are you crying?” Ifa asked, but Ororon just violently shook his head in response to the question and remained silent, before writing something in his notebook again.
Ororon seemed really invested in the story and its characters, especially the girl with the hand of Death. But that was honestly understandable. Ifa would lie if he didn’t admit that it affected him as well. Ororon’s presence was probably the only thing preventing him from bawling his eyes out, which he would be definitely doing if he was alone right now.
But as it turned out two movies later, Ororon’s presence wasn’t strong enough to prevent Ifa from getting watery eyes at the tragic story of Phainon and the Thirty-three Million cycles he suffered and endured just to fulfill his friend’s wishes. He was lucky that Ororon didn’t notice the silent tear running down his cheek. Ifa leaned back in hopes it would stay that way.
During the sixth movie, when the protagonists entered a new cycle and went back to the beginning of the flame chase journey to meet the imperator, Ifa could no longer feel his arm and the unpleasant numbness had already spread to his chest. But since he absolutely refused to let go of Ororon, he instead lowered his arm to put it around his waist instead, accidentally touching a bit of Ororon’s exposed skin there, since his shirt was not at its proper place.
Within the same movement, he also more or less accidentally pushed Ororon even closer to him, causing his hand, that was already dangerously close to Ifa’s crotch at that point, to actually touch Ifa’s dick for the fraction of a second.
A wave of dazzling electricity shot through his body, and it was suddenly very difficult to focus again. The desire for Ororon to do that again grew intensely, but he knew he had no right to ever push him in that direction.
Well unless Ororon wanted to, of course, then Ifa wouldn’t stop him either. But that was a different story.
Still with adrenalin rushing through his body, he made more space for Ororon’s hand, just in case. Whatever Ororon wanted, he would let him do it. He was so down bad for his friend, completely at his mercy. At the same time, he pleaded in his head that Ororon would understand the signs he was giving him and finally save him from this tension.
But even after half an hour nothing new happened. Ifa’s thoughts were racing in his head once more and he was on the verge of losing his mind when the Ororon in his imagination dived down under the blanket to softly place a kiss on Ifa’s- No please stop… Not now you stupid brain. He wanted Ororon to touch him so bad it was pathetic.
Again and again, Ororon’s hand, still tracing tender circles, drew closer to him before moving away again, only to come even closer the next rotation. Almost as if Ororon was deliberately doing it, but struggling with the same thoughts as Ifa did.
Ifa was overcome by the nagging feeling that Ororon might be thinking the same thing as him but was also unsure whether to proceed or not. His behavior did give that impression at least. Every time his hand came closer, Ifa could see him looking at him with uncertainty, studying his reaction. As if he was checking if he’s gone too far or if it’s okay for him to continue.
If that were the case, then there shouldn’t be any problem, right?
But also, what if Ifa was wrong and everything was just wishful thinking on his part?
His brain was racing at the speed of his heartbeat, and a thousand possibilities, scenarios and explanations played out in real time in his head. Was there any way to give Ororon another hint or sign that he would only understand if he was thinking the same, but was also not too obvious so Ifa could find an excuse to backout if needed?
Nervously trembling, Ifa inhaled deeply and made a decision. If he didn’t try it now, he might regret it for the rest of his life for never attempting it. The potential reward was too tempting, especially if he was right and they both wanted this. Today was just as good as any other day. No more chickening out.
The next time Ororon’s fingers approached him and traced their way up his inner thigh, he came so close that he was almost touching Ifa’s dick, just millimeters away. But just as before, after hovering there for a couple of moments, he planned to retreat once more, which Ifa wouldn’t let him do this time.
Bravely, he gently but firmly took Ororon’s hand in his own. He didn’t let him pull away this time. He wanted, no NEEDED to know what he was thinking, what he really wanted to do. Whatever it was, Ifa would let him do it.
Gently and slowly, he guided Ororon’s hand up to his lap, carefully placing his hand on his own. Ifa’s hand was now the only thing that separated his friend from touching him directly. He slowly released Ororon’s hand, finger by finger and waited for Ororon to decide himself what he wanted to do or not. His intention must’ve been clear as day by now. What Ororon chose to do now was up to him.
Bute the dark-haired man also still seemed unsure of what to do, because he didn’t move his hand for several minutes- His hesitation full of uncertainty.
Ifa slowly began to think that he had made a mistake. Maybe he misjudged the situation. It was just wishful thinking after all, wasn’t it? Ororon would never want him like that.
If that’s the case, then yes, it’s painful but it’s okay, but why doesn’t he move his hand away then?
Ifa felt his palm grow nervously warm and sweaty from the tense situation. With each heartbeat that pounded in his chest, millions of agonizing minutes passed in Ifa’s inner world, and he was still waiting for some sort of reaction from Ororon.
A single touch was the thing that burst his bubble of insecurity and nervousness in an instant. A feeling of liberation and relief washed over him as Ororon finally made his decision and curiously placed his hand directly on Ifa’s crotch, exploring everything that was not so subtly hiding in his pants. His fingers initially encircled around where his dick was, so gentle that his touch almost felt like melting cotton candy. Sweet and leaving an almost sticky trail.
A soft and pleased sigh escaped Ifa, almost audible, and a pleasant, warm tingling sensation bubbled in his lower abdomen under Ororon’s touch, which grew more confident and firmer with each passing moment. He could hardly imagine a more wonderful feeling. This must be better than being in heaven. Ifa slowly leaned back, enjoying the feeling of being felt out by his best bro. All consequences and implications were pushed aside; there was no room for them in his mind which was fully clouded by lust and euphoria.
As the sixth film drew to a close, Ifa must admit he wasn’t paying any attention to it at all, another question came up: What should the two of them do now? While the movie was still playing, neither of them commented on what was happening under the blanket, but now that the movie could no longer be used as a distracting alibi, should they perhaps talk about it or nah?
Only when even the credits finished, neither of them paid any attention, it became inevitable; One of them had to take the initiative now. In this case, it was Ororon. “I’m going to change the movie. Hang in there,” he mumbled casually, leaving Ifa with a feeling of emptiness and something warm missing.
For a momet, Ifa wondered if this was it, if they would simply never talk about what happened and pretended it never did, but his worry was completely unfounded. As Ororon slipped back under the covers, he immediately placed his hand back on Ifa’s crotch and silently started the seventh and second to last movie of the series, titled “Back to Earth in Evernight.”
There was something interesting about the way they interacted. It was as if they were constantly crossing a new threshold, which then immediately became their new standard. Like they had saved their progress in a video game and could start again from the last checkpoint at any time.
It left Ifa wondering though whether things would stay like this even after tonight or whether everything would go back to normal as soon as the sun rose. As if nothing ever happened. It would save them a lot of explanation work, that’s for sure, but was this what he even wanted?
Ultimately though, it was pointless to dwell on it now, and to be quite honest, his mind was way too occupied to think about tomorrow anyways. There were still two movies left. No matter what tomorrow had in store for them, tonight, for the duration of two more movies they would remain in the here and now. There was still time.
It was clear since the last movie that the storytelling and complexity of the plot were increasing. So many things were explained or expanded upon, and so many more layers were added to the world of Amphoreus that only benefitted the world building. It was just a shame that the beautiful complexity was completely wasted on Ifa.
The problem wasn’t that Ifa wasn’t smart enough to understand it, but rather that he was way too distracted by Ororon. Not that he minded of course. He was simply way too horny to follow this beautiful and carefully crafted story.
Ororon, who was still massaging him more or less, still occasionally made notes in his notebook, but the frequency of that had decreased over time. Who knows, maybe something else was on his mind as well.
A while later, Ororon’s caressing movements slowed, almost as if he were about to stop, or was distracted by something else. Out of the corner of his eye, however, Ifa realized that this wasn’t the case, because he could see his friend repeatedly casting discreet glances at him.
Somewhat unsure, Ororon’s hand, which paused mid-movement, began to wander again, but this time in a different direction. Upwards. His hand remained in a place directly above the waistband of Ifa’s pants, and his index finger began to draw small circles on his stomach, just above the fabric. A few times, his fingers slipped under the fabric, almost as if he was knocking and asking to be let in.
Ifa’s emotions overwhelmed him once more and he got dangerously lightheaded.
Reassuringly, he placed his hand on Ororon’s fingers, they felt somewhat cold, and guided him to the place he was asking to be invited to. A feeling of warmth instantly shot though his body as Ororon properly positioned his hand around his hard cock. The cold of his fingers was a welcoming contrast to the blood rushing through him. He felt his slender fingers wrap around him, one after the other. The pressure of his grip alternated between feather-light and firmly strong as he explored every inch of his full length.
There was something about his movements though, that didn’t make it feel like Ororon was after just making it as pleasurable to Ifa as possible, (he would cum in the matter of seconds if he decided to do that), there was something more curious and intimate about his touch. It was more as if Ororon tried to memorize the sensation and feeling of Ifa’s dick in his hand. As if he was taking a mental picture of the moment to save it.
Whatever it was, it still felt heavenly. It was hard to believe that Ifa had been worrying the whole afternoon about how he would get through the night without losing his mind; yet it was precisely the loss of his mind that made everything even greater.
All the highs and lows of the day did, however, not not take their toll on him. With all the initial panic he had, the unexpected closeness now while watching the movies, his arm around Ororon, Ororon’s hand on his thigh, his hand in his pants… All that in one long day was exhausting to say the least. Like a ride on a roller coaster. And combine that with their now eighth movie in the row, with increasingly complicated plots and ambitious stories, it was to no surprise that Ifa was absolutely tired at this point.
Throughout the entirety of the last movie, Ifa could barely keep his eyes open. The only thing keeping him awake was the occasional squish from Ororon’s hand, which was now intertwined with his own, resting between the two of them. A long-stretched yawn escaped him, nonetheless. Ororon on the other hand seemed completely uneffaced by any signs of fatigue, for he was absorbing every word that the pink-haired girl, Cyrene, uttered in her long, heartfelt monologue.
It was obvious that the last movie was reaching its end, and when the credits would roll for the last and final time, all would be over. What exactly should he say then? Part of him was still worried that they would never talk about what happened this night and would just go back to their normal lives as before. But Ifa didn’t want to go back. He wants this. He wants Ororon. He wants to give him his heart and in return take care of his.
With longing in his chest, but mentally still absolutely exhausted, he let the last minutes of the movie play out, hand in hand with his dear, beloved Ororon until the credits rolled for the last time. They watched the whole thing until the end, while a heartfelt version of the main theme song played softly in the background. When the screen turned black and everything was engulfed in a dark silence, that silence was nothing compared to the heaviness of the unspoken words that hung in the air between the two men. It swallowed everything up like a black hole.
Their hands were still intertwined, like neither of them wanted to let go. Ifa didn’t want to let go. And he didn’t want Ororon to let go either. But what choice did they ultimately have? They could only stall time for so long. And so, with a heavy heart, but knowing it was probably for the best, Ifa was the first one to let go.
“This was the last one, right?” Ifa wanted to ask many things this moment, say a lot of things, but what he had said out loud was none of the things he needed to get off his chest.
“Yeah,” Ororon answered, a little delayed, before the unbearable silence settled over them once again. Every high is usually followed by a low, but this was too much. If he’d only had the chance to change it, do anything, then he must do it now-
“So, what do you think?” Ororon asked in between his thoughts, switching on the nightlight on the nightstand beside him. The light was like a rude awakening, tearing Ifa from his sweet dream. A bleak reminder that he was back in reality. His eyes burned with tiredness. What time was it anyway? Surely the sun was about to rise again in a couple of hours.
Compared to him, Ororon didn’t seem quite as tired, he seemed rather hyped up actually. His pink and blue eyes looked excitedly at him. Where did he get all the energy from?
“It was… a lot,” Ifa answered somewhat weak, he forgot to prepare a good answer. He had to slap his cheeks with both of his hands to wake him up a little. “But it was good. Definitely worth watching. Although to be quite honest, I couldn’t follow everything towards the end.” He suppressed another yawn.
“Which part didn’t you understand? I can explain it to you if you have any questions.” Ororon gestured down to his notebook, which he now held in his hands like it was a treasure.
“I think even if you try to explain it to me right now, my brain probably couldn’t handle it, it feels very mush and not receptive for any more information today." Ororon looked a little disappointed upon hearing that. Ifa hated that sight. He quickly corrected himself to somehow save this situation. “But you can try explaining it to tomorrow, okay? Then I definitely won’t forget.” Ifa held out both of his hands in front of him, his palms facing Ororon, who seemed satisfied with that compromise for the time being.
“What do you think about the characters?” He asked instead, looking up from his book.
“Oh, they’re great, honestly. I love the cast. Everyone has a memorable personality and their own backstory. They’re heroes through and through, each in their own way. Oh and the actors are all pretty good looking, hah.”
“Yeah, right?” Ororon reacted with a surprising amount of eagerness, leaning closer towards Ifa. Startled about his own excitement, he cleared his throat a few moments later and sat up straight again. “They are the very image of heroes. Heroes with golden blood, destined to become demigods to protect their world from the black tide. Just imagine if we had that kind of power to protect Natlan from the abyss or even destroy it one and for all.” He was getting a little bit ahead of himself, which was cute.
“Dude, you do realize we already have heroes like that in Natlan, right? And you’re one of them, in case you’d forgotten.” Ororons’ ears twitched slightly after hearing this. A little embarrassed he glanced to the side.
“Oh right. I remember. But I’m neither a demigod nor anyone special, I just helped-“
“-helped save all of Natlan, yes. No reason for false modesty. You are great.” The red on the bat’s cheeks deepened slightly at Ifa’s compliment.
“Ifa, you know what I mean.” He shook his head before continuing. “But just imagine if Natlan was like Amphoreus and titans and demigods would exist in our world, wouldn’t that be cool?” Ororon seemed to like entertaining this idea, which made Ifa smile slightly.
“If so, then I hope we have a less tragic ending.”
“Weren’t you the one who just said there’s no reason for false modesty? The other’s from Natlan are certainly not to be underestimated. And if we had not just six heroes, but twelve demigods, I think we’d be pretty strong. Wait a minute!” Ororon took a short breath and then began counting something with his fingers.
“We have Mualani, Kinich, Xilonen, Chasca, Iansan and me of course, we are six, then there’s our Archon, seven and with Kachina, Varesa, you and Granny we are eleven and with Tumaini, we are twelve! Dude, we totally could each seize divine authority!”
Ifa counted in his head as he listened intently to Ororon’s words, tilting his head slightly. “I guess you’re right, we are twelve. What a coincidence.”
“Isn’t it?” Ororon’s eyes lit up again. “But who would get which coreflame?” His brow furrowed thinking hard about his imaginary scenario. He looked incredibly cute doing so.
“No idea, bro. How is something like that even decided? We’re real people, neither actors nor fictional characters.”
“Yeah, but just hypothetically hm… There might be an easy way but I’m not sure. Well Ifa, who was your favorite character?”
“Mine?” Ifa thought about it for a moment. With so many great characters to choose from, it was hard to pick favorites. “Good question. They’re all great.”
“But if you had to choose one, gun to your head,” he pointed with two fingers at Ifa’s forehead, “who would you choose?”
“Hm, in that case,” he thought about it again briefly but decided to go with his gut instinct. “I guess Phainon. Yea, that sounds about right.”
Ororon’s lips formed an enlightened O as he processed this information. “So, Phainon of Aedes Elysiae it is, bearer of the Worldbearing coreflame. A truly heavy responsibility to assume.” Ororon nodded twice slowly .
“Oh yeah, no doubt about that. That kind of responsibility would be way too much for me. Perhaps that’s why I admire him so much. Something grand like that would be more suited to Mavuika or Tumaini, while I can stay back and take care of sick saurians,” he mused aloud.
“True, that sounds like something they would do. Oh yea, by the way, I think Mualani would definitely be a good pick for Ocean. I mean that’s self-explanatory. Hm, and for Kinich, either Law or Reason would be a good match, he and his obsession with ‘equivalent exchange’ and stuff,” he mimicked the deadpan expression of their friend, “so probably the former. Hm and even if we have only one kachina and not three, she would probably be great to take over Passage’s authority. She is quite good at digging passages…”
Ororon fell into a thoughtful silence for half a minute. Ifa was only listening to his wild musings, because Ororon was so cute when getting all excited like this. Then Ororon’s expressions changed as if he had an epiphany. “Oh, I think I know which coreflame would be perfect for you! It’s so obvious, it’s Sky!”
“Sky? You mean like the pink healer lady?”
“Yes, her. Think about it. You’re a healer too. And you have an anemo vision. Plus, you can fly, and you have Cacucu, the best sidekick in the world. Isn’t that a perfect match?"
“When you say it like that, it’s hard to disagree. But Sky’s not the worst thing for sure. I like it.” Ifa imagined himself flying towards the sky with Ororon to invite him to his castle in the clouds. Not the worst idea ever. Maybe he should invite Ororon to hang out when they’re back in Natlan. “But if I am Sky, then what about you?” This time, they both fell into a thoughtful silence.
“What about Earth maybe? You are already a god at growing vegetables, who knows what you might do as the demigod of Earth. And I as Sky could help make the weather whatever way you need it. How about that?” Ifa looked at Ororon to see his reaction, but his expression remained unreadable.
“I suppose there’s something to that idea. My veggies would certainly like that, but…” He hesitated towards the end, something unspoken seemed to be weighing on him.
“But?” Ifa looked at him, waiting patiently.
“But if you are Sky and I am Earth, aren’t we too far apart, destined to never meet each other again? I don’t know if I’d like that.” His sorrowful gaze drifted downwards, and he bit his lip after his confession.
“Oh no, I wouldn’t like that either. Then I guess we can rule out Earth for now.” Once again, they both fell silent, but Ororon’s confession was somehow touching. He admitted that he doesn’t want to be separated from Ifa and that was quite cute. But also, Ifa didn’t want to see him sulking like this.
“If Earth is no longer an option, then how about…” Ifa continued to ponder, now under Ororon’s intense gaze. There was almost something nervous about his expression. It was almost as if he feared to hear an answer he didn’t want to. Surely this was not just about a ‘what character would you be?’ decision, there was something else going on.
Could it be that Ororon perhaps thought of himself as… Death? As the only one of them with a broken soul, as someone who was usually seen as an outsider. Was he afraid that Ifa would see him that way too? As someone who brought misfortune, someone to keep your distance from. But that’s not how Ifa sees him at all! Even though one could certainly argue about drawing a parallel between Ororon and Castorice as warm-hearted and good people, despite holding the power of Death or having a damaged soul, this was not the answer he would give him. When Ororon noticed Ifa’s hesitation, it seemed to him to be exactly the answer he was afraid to hear, and his gaze slowly lowered.
“I think Trickery might suit you,” Ifa said quickly and firmly. “Like remember when you tricked the pyro Archon to get the Fatui out of the stadium? Not everyone would have dared such a trick. Or when you tricked your own granny to escape from her? That’s even scarier if you ask me. Or that one time when you dug a pit for Xbalanque? You might not think so at first, but you have way more tricks up your sleeve than you realize. But I also know that you would always use your tricks for the greater good, even if not everyone sees it right away. You are like an invisible pillar supporting all of Natlan, someone everyone relies on, even if they don’t know it. And you're someone I can rely on.” He gave Ororon a gentle smile at the end.
His friend looked up at him again, genuinely surprised by his answer, but he seemed to like it. A small, fleeting smile flickered at the corner of his mouth. It was a relieved smile, which he quickly tried to hide, but Ifa already saw it.
“Is that what you think of me?” Even though he tried to act offended by slightly sticking out his lower lip, Ifa knew there was no real bite behind his words.
“Nuh-uh don’t try to make me feel guilty, I can see right through you and your tricks.” A warm and hearty laugh filled the room, and it was so contagious that Ororon dropped his act and joined in the laughter.
Once they calmed down, it was Ororon who spoke up first. His voice sounded a little more serious again but not strained in any way. His hand rested calmly on his chest precisely over his heart. “But seriously, I have to admit that Cipher was actually my favorite character. So, it makes me kind of happy that you said that.” This time he didn’t hide his smile. “She’s just so cool and funny.”
“And so are you bro. Perfect. Then I will be Sky and you Trickery.” He held out his hand to invite Ororon to a high-five. “I wonder what that would mean for us.” Their palms hit in the high-five but neither of them withdrew their hands, instead their palms gently touched.
“I suppose that would turn the sky into a trick. Like a fake sky?” Ororon said shrugging, looking at their hands.
“You mean like the false sky in Teyvat?” Ifa’s voice was barely above a whisper. Ororon’s pair of mismatched eyes widened in surprise and he opened his mouth several times to say something, but no words came out for a while.
“So… you know about that too. Should’ve guessed so,” Ororon finally replied calmly, his gaze never leaving Ifa.
“Yeah… To be honest it was kind of hard to miss. Mavuika punched right through it that day, I saw it all the way from where I was. At first, I was not sure what I even saw, so I later asked Tumaini and she confirmed it.”
“I see.” Ororon replied unchanged
“You know, when I saw that torn sky, I-“ Ifa hesitated slightly before continuing. “At that moment, I was incredibly worried about you. I thought that rift in the sky was a sign that the world was ending. And you were right in the middle of it. I was scared that you-“
“-But I’m not. I’m still very much alive. I was not alone, remember? But I was worried about you. I hated it that I didn’t know where you were or if you were all right. Or maybe it was for the best that you weren’t there that day. The attacks from the abyss were fierce and relentless.” Ororon lowered his gaze, his tone becoming gloomy.
“I’d be lying if I said things went better for the Flower Feather Clan. There were so many injured saurians…” A shiver ran down Ifa’s spine at the thought of the war. All the images of horror and destruction threatened to resurface. “But the war is over and we’re both still alive. Alive and well enough to go on vacation to a different nation together to watch movies all night.” He gave Ororon a genuine and encouraging smile and gently closed his fingers around Ororon’s hand. The encouragement seemed to have worked, because Ororon let out a short, soft chuckle.
“You’re right.” He too closed his fingers around Ifa’s hand, so that their fingers were now completely intertwined, earning both of them a sweet reassuring moment to calm down.
“If we were to create a false sky…” Ororon began after a moment of quiet, his voice gentle. “I believe we would never use it to imprison people, only to protect them if necessary.” Absentmindedly, he caressed the back of Ifa’s hand with his thumb. The touch was so soft and full of affection.
“That sounds lovely,” Ifa replied with a smile, simply enjoying the moment that enveloped them both in a pleasant bubble of happiness.
“Then let’s do it that way.”
For a while they both simply lingered in this weightless moment. Ifa’s dreamy gaze lingered lovingly on their intertwined hands. He was so absorbed in his moment of happiness that he didn’t even notice the look Ororon was giving him, or how their faces were gradually drawing closer. Ifa’s own heart was beating so loud that he was unable to hear Ororon’s.
It was only when Ororon, overcome by his emotions, suddenly released their hands that Ifa was pulled back into reality with terrifying speed. He only felt two warm hands suddenly landing on his face pulling him forward where his lips crashed into Ororon’s. It all happened so fast that Ifa had no chance to react in any way. Ifa was stunned.
Ororon pressed his lips to Ifa’s just as quickly and firmly as he pulled them away a few seconds later. A hot wave of warmth surged through Ifa’s face and the feeling of butterflies being released was back, only about two hundred times more intense than before. The shock and confusion over what just happened left him perplexed.
“Wh-what was that about, bro?” Of all the things he should have said, this was definitely not it and he regretted his words even before he finished speaking. He could have slapped himself right in the face for his stupidity.
Ororon didn’t answer him. His face was flushed a deep pink from top to bottom, and he looked absolutely mortified. Pure horror was etched onto his face, and his hands were still trembling in the air right before Ifa’s face. He slowly moved them away.
“Ororon, wait sorry. I didn’t mean it like that, I-“ He tried to reach for his friend’s hands, but Ororon just pulled them away.
“It’s getting quite late. We should probably go to sleep.” Even though Ororon tried to sound calm, it was hard to miss how hurt he sounded beneath the surface by the fact how shaky his voice was.
“No, wait. Shouldn’t we talk about this?” But his friend avoided his gaze.
“Talk about what?” he replied with feigned ignorance, putting on a fake smile. Instead of waiting for Ifa’s reaction, he turned away from him for good and leaned over to switch off the nightlight. He then lay down, without saying another word, facing the wall.
Ifa was left alone in the dark (literally) and very confused. “Ororon?” but again, silence was the only response, just as expected. Ifa remained sitting there on the bed for several more minutes. He felt dizzy and his mind was running in circles, hardly able to process what just happened. He messed that up, didn’t he? But no matter how much he thought about what he could’ve done differently, it was too late. Resigned to defeat he had no other choice but to lay down himself after a while. His hand rested weakly on his heavy chest, and a silent, almost breathless “Good night, Ororon,” escaped his throat in broken fragments.
Even though it was so late at night and he was very tired just minutes ago, he couldn’t have been more awake right now. How could he even begin to think about sleep when he messed up this badly? He couldn’t see much in the dark, but he could sense Ororon’s presence nonetheless and how he was still laying motionless beside him. Ifa listened intently, hoping to hear a sign, anything at all, but it remained unbearably quiet. Subconsciously, his hand slipped off his chest.
Staring at the nothingness on the ceiling was the only thing he could do as he slowly suffocated on his own thoughts. Every second felt like an eternity, every heartbeat felt like it was taking an hour. He had long since lost track of how much time has actually passed.
And yet, after hours of silence (it’s been really only a little over ten minutes), he suddenly heard a sound that would free him from his prison. It was a soft rustling, followed by a movement. The weight on the bed shifted with a barely audible creek and even though Ifa couldn’t see it, he knew that Ororon had turned onto his back.
Ifa heard a trembling, broken sigh as Ororon dropped his hand directly next to Ifa, barely missing him. “I-Ifa?” Ororon’s voice was barely louder than a weak broken whisper.
“What’s wrong?” Ifa asked instantly alarmed and turned to his friend.
“I don’t know,” Ororon replied after a few moments. “I’m not feeling so well.”
“In what way not well? Do you feel sick?” Worried and still alarmed, Ifa sat up and slightly leaned over to Ororon.
“It’s so… hot,” he whimpered weakly. “My whole body feels like its on fire. And my insides feel like they are being ripped apart.”
“Do you perhaps have a fever?” Ifa asked anxiously, wondering when and where Ororon could have caught something here in Fontaine and since when he was feeling this way. Did this just happen now or was he perhaps hiding this all night from Ifa? But then again, he didn’t give the impression that he was feeling weak or feverish before or was Ororon just very good at hiding-
But Ifa’s racing stream of thoughts were interrupted when a trembling hand seized his and pulled it towards him. “Can you feel it too?” Abruptly and without any warning, Ororon pressed Ifa’s hand directly onto his own throat with such unexpected force that Ifa couldn’t resist. In a different context, this might have been incredibly hot but right now Ifa is too worried to think about such things. Instead, he desperately tried to loosen his grip as to not choke Ororon, which was easier said than done. Ororon had an unbelievably tight hold. Beneath his hand, he could actually feel how warm Ororon’s skin was, although not unusually feverishly hot, and he could feel his carotid artery pulsating like crazy.
“Please not so tight, you will hurt yourself. Can I please feel your forehead?” Somewhat reluctantly, Ororon loosened his grip after a few seconds, but he also didn’t let go of Ifa’s hand. Instead, he guided him to his forehead himself and finally placed it there so Ifa could check his temperature properly.
“You are warm, but not feverish.” He still couldn’t explain what was wrong with Ororon though. He’s a vet, not a doctor, but surely his expertise should allow him to do something helpful.
“Is there anything I can do for you? Do you need water or fresh air, or-“
“No…” Ororon’s voice interrupted him weakly. “Can you just please… lie down next to me?”
“Of course. Whatever you want,” Ifa replied without hesitation.
“It’s somehow better… when you touch me,” Ororon murmured as Ifa lay down next to him.
“Like this?” he asked cautiously, referring to his hand which was still pressed against Ororon’s forehead.
“Can you hold me? Please.” Ororon seemed at least as surprised as Ifa was when he made his sudden request vocal.
“Of course. Anything you want.” Ifa carefully removed his hand so he could properly wrap both arms around Ororon’s shoulders. The latter turned to face Ifa at the same moment and with a sigh of relief put his arms around Ifa’s waist and pressed himself so close to the vet’s torso as if he was afraid that he would lose him if he let go. He then gently rested his forehead on Ifa’s chest.
“It’s better when you touch me,” he repeated muffled against the fabric of Ifa’s shirt. Ifa could feel his breath tickling his skin beneath it and simply pulled him closer without a word. Right here, right now, there were no more doubts in his mind. All that mattered was Ororon.
After a while, he gently placed his hand on Ororon’s head and began to softly run his fingers through his dark hair, feeling its texture beneath his fingertips while slowly inhaling his friend’s familiar scent. When his hand finally reached Ororon’s ear, he first touched it very gently and carefully from behind, just with the tip of his finger. His ear twitched slightly under his touch. Ifa waited another moment to see if Ororon would protest, but he took his silence as a silent go-ahead.
He gently took the ear between the tip of his index finger and thumb and patiently began to stroke it. He could feel an instantaneous twitch run through not only his ear, but Ororon’s entire body. Ifa could also feel Ororon softly gasp, as his face was still pressed against his chest.
“Is this, okay?” Ifa asked in a whisper, just making sure he wasn’t stressing his friend out.
“Just sensitive. Keep going,” was the mumbled reply and it was all Ifa needed to hear. He continued to caress his ear, and after a while Ororon seemed to have gotten used to the touch as he notably relaxed, enjoying the feeling. Ifa was sure to remember this detail.
For a while it was quiet again until Ororon spoke once more. “Ifa… I… I’m sorry.” His voice was so soft that Ifa was only able to hear it because he was so close to his friend.
“What are you sorry about?” Patiently, he gently stroked Ororon’s back.
“You know what I’m talking about. I shouldn’t have… That was stupid of me. I mean… I shouldn’t have just… kissed you like that.” He said the last part so quickly and unclear that it was almost unintelligible. “My feelings just got the better of me. I’m sorry if I crossed a line.” Ashamed, he tried to hide his face even further.
“You’re worried that the kiss might’ve crossed a line? About an hour ago you had your hands down my pants and I was not complaining.”
“Ifa!” Embarrassed, Ororon buried his face even further into Ifa and hit him twice with his fist, but there was no real force behind his action.
“Ow, okay you’re right, that’s not the point. What I was trying to say is- Hey, Ororon, please listen to me.”
But his friend just shook his head vigorously.
“Ororon, please.”
“No!”
“I’m not mad or anything but we should at least talk about it.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Ororon, please. Look at me.”
“But it’s dark.”
Damn, he was right.
Ifa sighed. “Then… look in the direction my voice is coming from.” His voice had taken a particularly gentle and patient tone, and Ororon stopped shaking. Slowly and gradually, he felt him lift his head and finally turn towards him. Despite the darkness, their shared proximity allowed him to make out Ororon’s beautiful features, even though he couldn’t interpret what was going through his mind.
“Listen. I’m not mad or anything. Neither about the kiss nor about… the other thing. I was just surprised and didn’t understand what was going on at first. It all happened so fast, you know. But it didn’t bother me in the slightest. Not at all. I promise. I… Well to be honest…” He began to stumble over the words which wanted to leave his mouth much faster than he was able to check and filter them. “I actually liked it.” When the last part finally left his lips, he suppressed the urge to nervously clear his throat, which, however, couldn’t stop his heart from beating faster again.
“Wait… You what?” He wasn’t sure if Ororon was really as confused as he sounded.
“I think you heard me.” He could practically feel the heat rushing to his face. Not that his friend could see it in the dark, but still.
“You liked it? I was not super bad at it?”
“No? I did like it. Although it was very short and over so quickly. I hardly had any time to process what I was feeling. But I liked the idea that you-“
“Ifa?” Ororon’s voice, now clear this time, instantly silenced his babbling.
“Yes?” Ifa swallowed nervously, his heart still racing, waiting to hear what Ororon had to say.
“If it was too short… maybe we could… try it again? And make it better this time? Just to be sure if you like it or not.” It was obvious that Ororon was struggling to keep himself somewhat composed and his voice steady.
“If you let me.”
“Please.”
Despite the darkness of the late night, their faces met. Even though their noses briefly touched at first, it didn’t stop Ifa from gently placing his hand on Ororon’s cheek to correct their course. When their lips touched this time, much softer than before, there was no panic or any haste to put them under pressure. Ororon’s lips were warm and a little rough, but every feather-light touch sent a tingle through Ifa’s body, and the butterflies in his stomach did somersaults. Ifa closed his eyes out of instinct to focus even more on the sensation. His thumb now caressed the spot beneath Ororon’s blue eye where he knew his tattoo was. With a little more pressure he tried to get more of Ororon and his friend responded in kind.
When they broke apart after a few more moments and both their heartbeats were racing in sync, they were also left somewhat speechless. What were you supposed to say to your best bro after you’ve just passionately kissed him properly for the first time?
“And?” Ororon’s voice was barely more than a whisper. His face was still so close that Ifa could feel his warm breath against his lips. “Did you like it?”
“Yes,” he answered with an almost breathless smile. He wanted to laugh with joy, because the answer to that question seemed so easy and obvious to him. His thumb remained on Ororon’s cheek.
“I think I also realized something because of this.”
“And that would be?” Ifa had to wait a moment before he received an answer.
“I think I know why I felt the way I did just now. I think it might be because of you.” Ororon’s voice sounded so neutral that it was impossible to tell what he meant by this. Somewhat perplexed, Ifa’s mouth fell open. He wanted to reply, but he honestly didn’t know what to say.
“… Sorry?”
“It’s not like it’s you fault.” Ororon tried to explain. “It’s more that my feelings are reacting so strongly to you. And I think what happened is that they completely overwhelmed me. I thought I was going to explode. But now… it’s different. When you’re with me, when you touch me, … then the fear goes away. Does this make sense? Then it’s not too much but just right.” Even though his explanation might seem a bit odd, Ifa knew his friend so well that the words coming from him somehow made sense.
“So, I’m the cause but also the cure? Does that even things out?”
“Something like that, yes. But…” Ororon hesitated for a moment, then continued his thought. “If you had the chance to tip the scales, would you do it?” He was a bit vague, but Ifa felt confident he knew what he was getting at. He just wanted to hear it from him again.
“What would I have to do for that?”
“Just kiss me again,” and barely after finishing his demand their lips met again, this time with even more force. Their lips moved against each other in a pleasurable rhythm as both men pressed their bodies even closer together. It wasn’t long before their legs, too, became a tangled mess.
Ororon’s hand, which was resting on Ifa’s chest, also began to eagerly explore the vet’s torso. He did so with such fervor, as if he had been suppressing the urge to do so for ages. When his index finger got caught on the button of Ifa’s shirt as he tried to open it, Ifa decided to give his friend the go-ahead by undoing the first button himself. As if the floodgates had now been opened for Ororon, it took him no time to undo three more himself as he hurriedly felt every muscle on Ifa’s body.
His grip was firm, but every touch sent a pleasant shiver down Ifa’s spine nonetheless, a sensation he couldn’t get enough from. Since his hand was no longer needed to undo the buttons, he found a better place for it, which he decided was on Ororon’s lower back. His fingers nimbly found their way under the hem of his shirt.
During the kiss, Ororon shifted his weight more and more onto Ifa, pressing his head and torso into the mattress beneath them. Ororon was so intently focused on not breaking the kiss that he seemed to have forgotten that they also needed to breathe. Not that Ifa, despite his gradual shortage of breath, would dare to interrupt him. Perhaps suffocating wasn’t so bad after all, if Ororon kissed him with such passion. He felt lightheaded again.
In the end, it was Ororon who was the first to gasp and break the kiss. At least for a moment, just long enough to catch his breath before he was immediately back on Ifa’s lips, gently nibbling at his lower lip. If he wasn’t careful with his sharp teeth, Ifa’s lip would surely start bleeding soon, but he had absolutely no intention of stopping his friend.
Instead, Ifa ran his hand through Ororon’s hair again, first pushing a strand aside, and then moving his hand to Ororon’s ear again, touching it ever so slightly. A surprised shudder ran through Ororon’s entire body, and when he momentarily pulled away from Ifa, he seized the opportunity to gently slip his tongue between Ororon’s now parted lips.
Ororon, who was still very inexperienced in such matters, initially didn’t know exactly how to react or what to do. He waited a moment to see what Ifa would do, and when Ifa gently nudged his tongue several times, he did the same. It wasn’t long before it more or less turned into a game in which they explored each other’s tongues with swirling passion.
It was a magical feeling. An unstoppable heat was surging through his entire body and pulsated in his veins. The source of the heat was forming deep in his stomach. As their kisses transformed into a passionate and lustful make-out session, Ifa felt himself getting hard again. But this time he wasn’t the only one. He could clearly feel that Ororon was much the same as him in this regard, as he could feel Ororon unconsciously rolling his hips against Ifa’s thigh to create more friction. His breathing also became heavier and the kiss became sloppy.
Before Ifa could comprehend what happened next, Ororon swung himself from their previous entwined position on top of Ifa and, with his strength (he was quite strong), pushed him even further down onto the bed. Ifa didn’t even think about protesting. He just didn’t expect Ororon to take the initiative like that, but he was so down bad for Ororon, whatever he wanted, he would let him do it. This man made his head spin.
Said man finally broke the kiss, a hot string of saliva connecting them for a moment longer. He now sat directly on Ifa’s crotch, and his hands undid the last three buttons of Ifa’s shirt, so that it was now completely open and the fabric slowly slid to the side to reveal his toned body, albeit in the dark. While Ororon was busy with this, Ifa also sat up slightly and was now propped up on his elbows. Within seconds, his tense abdominal muscles were being felt by two eager hands.
The fact that Ororon was engaging with his body so intensely, it filled Ifa with an incredible feeling of satisfaction. He felt the pair of hands thoroughly explore his body and when he reached his broad shoulders, he let his fingers slide over them until he finally reached his neck and pulled Ifa a little closer. Halfway up, however, their lips met again in an intense Fontainian kiss.
While one of Ororon’s hands continued to hold him, the other wandered back to Ifa’s abdomen, and Ifa himself placed one of his hands on Ororon’s hip, where he carefully slipped his fingers under his shirt. The spot where he touched his skin twitched slightly under his fingers, possibly because he was somewhat ticklish, so Ifa, dazed by the intense kiss, slowly moved his hand to Ororon’s butt instead.
“I-Ifa~!”
Feeling somewhat called out for his action, he pulled his hand back a little, but the way Ororon had just moaned his name was the sweetest melody in his ears. Way better than whatever he had daydreamed of before. He yearned to hear it again. Their lips were still so close together that he could feel his warm breath.
“I wanna go to the sauna with you.” Ororon’s voice was barely more than a plea, clouded by lust. He rolled his hips against Ifa again, robbing the man of his senses in a way that he was almost unable to answer Ororon’s strange request.
“You… what?” he asked bewildered.
“I wanna go to the sauna with you. Please.” He sounded desperate.
“You mean… the hotel sauna? Why?” His constant questioning seemed to make Ororon somewhat uneasy.
“I want to go to the sauna with you. Just like in the movie…”
Only now did it click with Ifa what he was trying to tell him all along. Everything instantly became even more intense as a wave of shock washed over him. Was Ororon asking him if he wanted to have sex with him?
“Or… don’t you want to go with me…?” The tone of his voice sounded hurt. He must have interpreted Ifa’s perplexed silence as a kind of rejection, which Ifa immediately had to correct.
“No!” He quickly pressed his lips onto Ororon’s to calm him down with a long, loving kiss. Once he had calmed down, Ifa soothingly spoke to him. “I’m not saying I don’t want to. I do. But please wait a minute so I can make sure I don’t misunderstand you. You want to… with me…?” His voice failed him. He wasn’t a teen anymore; there shouldn’t be any need to beat around the bush. And yet, right now, he was too flustered to say it out loud.
“Yes, I want to. Can we please go?”
“But why in the sauna?” That part still made absolutely no sense to Ifa and no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t make heads or tails off it. Knowing Ororon as he did, though, he was sure he had a specific reason for it. Or was his mind perhaps dirtier than he’d given him credit for?
“Is the sauna not good enough?”
“I don’t think that’s the problem. It’s more because it’s technically a public place and it would be kind of scandalous. You know we don’t actually need to go into a sauna to do that. A normal bed is perfectly sufficient. Like the one in your room. Or the one in the room behind my clinic.”
“Ohhhh. I see.” Ororon said this as if the realization had just dawned on him. His leaps of thoughts were a little hard to follow sometimes. “Is this one here good enough then?” he finally asked after a moment. “Because I really… want to feel you. I mean like… inside of me?” This time it was Ororon’s turn to trip over his own words and blush. Ifa knew this even without seeing it. His heart threatened to burst with joy.
“If that’s what you want.” He gave Ororon a gentle, apologetic kiss, knowing he was about to burst his bubble of eagerness, even though he didn’t want to himself. “Unfortunately, I don’t have anything with me. And I want this to be enjoyable for you too. Especially since you… don’t have any experience?” It was more of a cautious question than a statement, which he assumed to be true.
“I… don’t.”
“And that’s okay, we both have time. We don’t need to rush anything. We can do all these things and more when we’re back in Natlan, okay?”
“… You really didn’t bring anything with you?”
“N-No, I didn’t think we’d get into a situation where we- “
“You didn’t think we would fuck?”
Ifa blushed an even deeper shade of red. “No! I didn’t think that- wait, did you?”
Ororon remained silent for a while before returning a brief kiss. “... Who knows? But can you please promise me that we’ll do it another time? Because I need you.” Fuck, the way he said that was so hot.
“I promise. Trust me, I want this just as much as you. As you might’ve noticed. But it’s more important to me that you are comfortable.” The kiss they shared now was gentler than the previous ones, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t filled with the same love and affection. Only the tone was different. A tone full of hope for a shared tomorrow, a shared future. A future in which they both existed together.
When they broke apart, they both fell into a comfortable silence. He felt the tip of Ororon’s nose tickling against his own, and when he placed a small kiss on it, he realized for the first time that he was able to see Ororon’s blue and pink eyes again, gazing at him with affection. The fact that he was able to see him meant one thing for sure. It wasn’t as dark anymore. As his surroundings slowly returned to his consciousness he realized why.
“I think the sun will rise again soon.” It was a fact simply proven by the faint light filtering through the curtains. It also meant that it must be around six in the morning. “Perhaps it would be best if we went to sleep now?”
Ororon didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about the suggestion but after some consideration he had to admit that it would probably be the best for the both of them. “I guess so.” Giving in to defeat, he buried his head in the crook of Ifa’s neck and laid the rest of his body on top of him.
“I think it’ll be quite tough for me to sleep like this.” Ifa smiled. Ororon was so cute it made his heart flutter.
“But you make quite the good bed. So cozy,” Ororon murmured in reply, which was barely audible as half of his words were swallowed by Ifa’s skin. The spot on his neck tingled nicely.
“Cozy for you, I guess. But I’ll be as flat as a pancake by tomorrow. Come, we can still cuddle if you want.” He ran his hands soothingly over Ororon’s sides which made him slightly flinch, but he didn’t budge in the end.
“Ifa?” he muttered in a slightly grim voice.
“Yes, br-“ Ifa cut himself off. He wasn’t sure if ‘bro’ was still the right word to use. He was just so used to it that it just rolled off his tongue. “What is it?” he corrected himself.
“Can I bite you?”
“Bite me? Why would you do that?”
“I want to,” he pouted softly from his spot. “I’ll come down afterward.”
Sometimes Ifa didn’t know how to deal with Ororon. But how could he ever refuse his requests when he was so effortlessly charming in his own way? Ifa already had this problem before, and it certainly won’t be getting any better soon.
“Okay, fine. But please don’t hurt me?” But Ororon, who was now grinning excitedly, gave him no answer. The next he felt was Ororon’s sharp teeth digging into the flesh of his neck with gentle force. “Ow!” Despite his pathetic protest and the stinging pain, Ifa could also feel a hot tingling sensation spreading from the spot which only grew stronger as he got used to the pain. He didn’t know in the slightest what to make of this realization about himself, but he sucked it up for now because Ororon was the one doing this to him.
When his friend was finished with him after a while of biting and sucking on that spot, he pulled away and placed a soft apologetic kiss on the top of his skin. He had no idea what it would look like later. Without any resistance, Ororon finally got off Ifa and lay down next to him, where he then pulled the blanket over the both of them. Their bodies found their way back to each other as if connected by an invisible magnetic force, and so they ended up lying closely entwined in each other’s arms.
“Sleep well, Ororon.” Ifa whispered softly, breathing one last kiss onto Ororon’s forehead as he closed his eyes. He could hear Ororon whispering something back, but tiredness had already overcome him, and it wasn’t long before Ifa drifted off to sleep, spared by the light of the rising sun.
When Ifa woke up the next time, he had absolutely no sense of what was happening around him. Just moments before, he had been in a deep, warm sleep. He had no idea what time it was nor how long he had been sleeping, but he still felt incredibly tired. The first thing he saw when he tried to open his eyes, still half asleep and blinking several times, was the white wall next to the door. Even though the curtains were still drawn, they couldn’t stop the bright sunlight from bathing the room in a light that was definitely too bright for Ifa’s taste.
He closed his eyes again, just to feel the warmth of his dream for a moment longer, but he wasn’t quite able to grasp it anymore. Instead, it was as if the warmth enveloping his back and stomach came from a different source. He realized now that the warmth he felt came from another body pressing against him. His heart skipped a beat before leaping with joy.
Ororon, who was lying directly behind him, had wrapped his arms around Ifa’s side and was pressed against his back. Judging by his still even breathing, Ifa guessed he must still be asleep. A faint smile which he couldn’t suppress lay itself upon his lips. He lingered for quite some time in that sweet state of neither being asleep nor awake. He didn’t want to confront the questions that would inevitably arise when he woke up for real. Just a little longer. A little longer in this pleasant warmth…
Ifa had no idea when he exactly dozed off the second time, but the next time he awoke from his sweet dream, it was because he heard a familiar voice whispering to him. He was too disoriented to pinpoint its exact location.
“… you awake?”
He recognized that voice. It belonged to Ororon. Right, Ororon was here too. And it was morning. No wait, it probably wasn’t anymore. He’d fallen asleep again, hadn’t he? A little lost, he blinked a few times and turned onto his back, facing the direction the voice was coming from. He recognized Ororon’s dark hair and his pale skin.
“Morning, bro.” Ifa grumbled sleepily in a deep morning voice as his eyes closed once more.
Oh, he said “bro” again, didn’t he? The whole “bro” thing just came so naturally to him that he couldn’t even stop it; it was ingrained in his brain. He wondered if the name still was appropriate for him. But what else was he supposed to call Ororon if not “bro”? Did Ororon mind the nickname now or was Ifa just overthinking it?
“Dude, don’t fall asleep again,” a teasing voice whispered in his ear. Before he could even process the words, he felt a finger tickle the area around his navel. Since his shirt was still unbuttoned from last night, he felt the effect directly on his bare skin. Startled by the ticklish touch, he flinched and opened his eyes sharply. Instinctively, he caught the ‘intruding’ hand with his own, but when he realized it posed no threat whatsoever, he let it go.
“I won’t, I won’t,” he sighed quietly, suppressing a yawn. “How late is it?”
Somewhat absentmindedly, Ororon shrugged and began tracing Ifa’s abdominal muscles with his index finger while staring shamelessly at them. “I don’t know. Must be around noon.”
“That late, huh?” He couldn’t exactly say that he was even remotely well-rested, despite it being so late.
“It is what it is. Not like we had any plans, anyways.”
“Mhm,” Ororon agreed silently humming.
“Speaking of having any plans, what do you wanna do today?” Ifa yawned loudly, folding his arms behind his neck, simply enjoying the feeling of Ororon’s finger on his skin. His friend shrugged again and continued with his current activity.
“I don’t know.” He hesitated for a moment. “Stay in bed?” As Ororon caressed his side, Ifa got a faint shiver of goosebumps.
“Stay in bed all day and do nothing, huh? Don’t you think our limited time in Fontaine is a little too precious for that? Would be kind of a shame if we didn’t make the most of it, wouldn’t it, br- eh… babe?” The new nickname felt a little strange coming out of his own mouth and he felt his face heat up.
“I don’t mind if you keep calling me bro. No need to force yourself. We are still best bros, aren’t we? That hasn’t changed, right?”
“Well, bros don’t usually do the things we did.” He was still skirting around the issue. He knew they’d have to talk about it eventually, but as of right now, Ifa didn’t know how to.
“Things like what?” Ororon asked mischievously. Of course he would do that.
“You already know what I mean,” he sighed softly. “Cuddling, like right now. Or kissing.” He knew he didn’t need to list them; he was sure Ororon understood him the first time and was just teasing him, but he did it for him anyway.
“So what if we are just bros who also kiss. And cuddle. It doesn’t have to be complicated, does it?”
Ifa kind of knew that Ororon was right. As long as it was okay for the both of them, nothing else mattered. Whether they are bros, best friends or a couple, the label didn’t matter as long as their feelings for each other were real. Maybe this really wasn’t going to be as complicated as he imagined.
“But to get back to your question, I think you’re right.” Ororon sighed, a bit too dramatically, as he said this. “We should probably get up soon and do something while we’re still here. Besides, I still have to return the rented movies. It would be rude to keep Miss Night Emissary waiting too long.” He sounded almost as if he was pouting at the thought of having to leave the bed with Ifa.
“It’s only been a day.”
“Still, I promised to take good care of her things and bring them back safe and sound. Her things deserve the best treatment for her generosity in recommending this film series to me. Although, I will probably miss the movies and the characters a bit…”
“You can always keep them for another day,” Ifa suggested, but Ororon immediately shook his head.
“No, we should return them today. But if I remember correctly, she said these movies are based on a book series. Maybe they sell them somewhere in Fontaine. Then I could buy them and take them home and read them all again, no movie player thing needed! I could even show them to granny. She reads stories like this all the time anyway; I bet she’d like them too.”
Ifa couldn’t quite put it into words, but somehow, he shuddered at the thought of how Citlali would react if she found out he’d watched a film with Ororon that included a scene like the sauna scene. In what way would it be described in the book? Even more detailed? Oh, she would never look at Ifa the same if she found out… He wasn’t sure if he could bear such horror.
And that wasn’t even the worst part he would have to face: How would she react if Ororon told her that they were kind of like a bro couple but also kind of boyfriends now? If she didn’t kill him outright, she’d definitely make sure that he would do it himself. The wrath of Granny Itztli was scary.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Then that sounds like a plan,” Ororon announced, sounding quite pleased.
“Should we start getting ready then?” Ifa asked, trying to distract himself from his thoughts.
“Hmm, yea, we should.” Ororon said that but made also no move to move away from Ifa. On the contrary, he moved even closer and buried his face in Ifa’s chest, making his heart beat immediately faster. Confident that they would surely get up soon, he placed his hand on Ororon’s head and gently brushed through his dark hair. Just for a moment.
As it turned out, that one moment actually lasted half an hour, during which they continued to cuddle and, towards the end, shared many soft, gentle kisses. Whenever he mustered the will to get up, it was Ororon who brought him back to their warm little world with a kiss. Oh, how this man had him on a leash.
When the two of them had finally finished showering and got dressed for the day quite some time later (they had showered separately, even though Ororon had looked longingly after him when Ifa entered the bathroom alone, as if he would have liked to come along), the sun was already on its way back towards the horizon.
Ororon was carrying the box with the movies again, holding it like a treasure as they headed down the stairs in the hallway. They agreed to have a late breakfast together before returning the movies to the vendor. Since it was too late for breakfast at the hotel, they decided to go to a nice café not too far from the hotel. They were almost in the hotel lobby when they suddenly heard a voice calling behind them.
“Ifa! Can we have a quick talk?” It was Kinich. His voice was firm but calm. He stood there with his arms crossed before his chest at the top of the stairs. Somewhat surprised as to what Kinich might want from him, he looked clueless to Ororon and then back at the dark-haired man.
“What’s the matter?” Ifa asked. A series of cloudy memories of their strange encounter yesterday came back to him. So much had happened since then that he’d completely forgotten to tell Ororon about it, as originally planned.
“Just the two of us, please. I’m sorry, Ororon.” He placed his hand on his chest in a sincere apology and offered him one of his faint Kinich smiles, the kind you can easily miss if you don’t know any better.
Ifa looked at his friend again, uncertain, but Ororon just shrugged indifferently. “Go ahead, it sounds important. I’ll wait for you outside, okay bro?” There was something mischievous in his eyes, as if he was saying to Ifa, ‘Tell me everything there is to gossip about later.’ For some reason, the way Ororon said ‘bro’ to him made him blush slightly.
“See ya,” Ifa said back. Once Ororon was out of earshot, and Ifa had gone back upstairs to Kinich, he led him into another somewhat secluded corridor and looked around several times until he noted with satisfaction that they were alone.
“We need to talk about what you saw yesterday.” Kinich’s voice suddenly sounded very serious, almost threatening. His grave aura and expression made Ifa hesitate and take a step back, which made him bump into the wall behind him.
“W-What exactly do you mean? I’m not even sure what I saw.” It was the truth, even if it probably didn’t sound very convincing to Kinich.
“But you DID see something, right?” He still seemed intimidating despite being quite shorter than Ifa himself.
“I suppose so. I did see something, but it was strange. For a moment... I thought I saw a twin of you or something. But with blond hair. But that can’t be right, can it?” On the other hand, he could still clearly see it in his mind’s eye. It seemed too real to be just hist imagination. And judging by Kinich’s reaction, there was definitely something going on after all.
Kinich raised both of his eyebrows in surprise. He considered this silently for a moment, cooly calculating, while once again zipping his black top all the way up so that the fabric covered his entire neck, just like he did yesterday. It was almost as if he tried to hide something.
“Don’t tell me there really was someone. I didn’t imagine it, did I?”
Kinich looked as if he’d just realized his own mistake, but it was too late; he’d given himself away. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before choosing his next words carefully. “Okay, listen. I’m going to be completely honest with you and tell you the truth about what you saw. In return, I’ll tell you what I heard from your room yesterday and neither of us will get the wrong idea or starts spreading any weird rumors. Does that sound fair and square to you?”
Ifa swallowed nervously. “What exactly do you mean by what you heard? And when?” He and Ororon had actually been quite quiet the whole night, Kinich couldn’t possibly mean that, could he?
“One thing at a time.” Kinich sighed and then took a deep breath. “You said you saw someone, and that this person also looked somewhat like me, right?” Ifa nodded silently. “The person you saw was Ajaw in his human form. Or rather, in his phlogiston projection that mimics a human’s appearance. The reason he looks so much like me is because he used my body as the basis for the projection. This makes it easier for him to maintain human form. We had actually agreed that he wasn’t supposed to show himself to anyone in this form, but this new situation requires new ground for negotiation.”
“That was Ajaw?” Ifa’s mind raced. It didn’t make any sense, but at the same time, it all fell into place. So, when he had knocked on the door, Ajaw was the one who opened it, and Kinich must’ve panicked and sent him into time-out, as he often did. But what exactly were they doing before Ifa had unknowingly interrupted them?
“Yes. And I would appreciate it if you kept this secret to yourself and don’t tell anyone else.” Kinich looked at him intently. Ifa felt as if he had already done something wrong, despite not having done anything yet. “In return,” Kinich continued, “I will also keep to myself what I heard from your room yesterday when I returned and passed your door.”
Ifa suddenly felt visibly nervous at what Kinich implied, the color gradually draining from his face.
“What exactly… do you mean? What did you hear?”
“I’m talking about the movie you watched.”
Ifa turned even paler. Surely that must be a misunderstanding. Seven out of the eight movies had been completely harmless. There was only that one scene in hat one film that… There was no way Kinich just happened to walk past their room during that one scene, was there? Surely not. There’s no way.
“We watched a lot of films yesterday. I’m afraid I don’t quite know what you mean.”
Surprised and slightly weirded out, Kinich raised an eyebrow and looked at him. “Okay? Because when I walked past your door, it sounded like you were watching Po-“
“Okay, okay, whoa! Kinich, listen, this is a misunderstanding. I swear, it was just one scene in on of the movies.” This couldn’t be happening, what kind of timing was that?
“Actually, I don’t care what you and your boyfriend watch in your free time, that’s none of my business,” Kinich said, trying to appear calm, but his gaze still avoided Ifa’s which made him look a little flustered.
“Boyfriend?” Ifa’s face flushed from pale to red. “We’re…” Something inside him wanted to deny it at first, but considering the new circumstances that would be a lie. And he didn’t want to lie about himself and Ororon either. But also, he wasn’t sure if he wanted everyone to know about them just yet.
“Are you trying to deny that something is going on between you two? Ifa, I’m not stupid and I have eyes. I hear something from your room that sounds like men moaning while you’re supposedly watching ‘movies’ and you only just now left your hotel room at 2pm and you expect me not to be able to notice this monster of a mark on your neck?”
Ifa instinctively put his hand on the spot where Ororon has bitten him. He completely forgot about that. He didn’t even think about checking it in the mirror.
“Wait, is it visible? How bad is it?” he asked somewhat panicked and tried to pull his collar over the bitemark, but he couldn’t really see if he succeeded or not. Kinich tilted his head and watched the scene silently.
“It looks pretty bad. It looks like a bite. Wait, did he actually bite you? No nevermind, don’t tell me. I don’t think I want to know.” With a sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut, as if fighting against the images in his mind.
“Whatever. You know my secret now, and I know yours. I suggest we make a deal. Not a word to anyone who isn’t already involved. What happened in Fontaine will stay in Fontaine. Otherwise, I might accidentally tell Mualani what I heard. Do we have a deal?” Kinich held out his hand expectantly. An unpleasant shiver ran down the vet’s spine. Telling Mualani would be the equivalent of broadcasting it everywhere with leaflets. If Mualani knew, Granny Itztli would also find out in no time. And that thought was terrifying.
“Deal!” Ifa quickly agreed, shaking Kinich’s hand to seal the deal while trying to push his thoughts away. He definitely shouldn’t mess with Kinich. He never had a reason to before, but now this resolve was clearer than ever.
“Good. Have a nice day then. See you later.” With these words of parting, Kinich left; Ifa wasn’t sure where he went. He hadn’t been paying attention because he needed time to recover from whatever this talk was. Too many things had happened at once, and he couldn’t process all of them. But as long as he kept quiet, nothing would happen, right? Up until now, Kinich was the only one who knew about him and Ororon. And maybe Ajaw. Did Kinich tell Ajaw?
In theory, if Ifa and Ororon were to reveal themselves to their other friends first, Kinich would have nothing left to hold against him and the deal would be very one-sided. Besides telling everyone about the movie part of course. Still, Ifa didn’t want to risk upsetting Kinich. They are friends after all. Shaking his head, he made his way back down the stairs after a while, through the lobby, and finally left the hotel through the large doors that led outside, where a pleasant breeze greeted him.
Ororon was already waiting for him outside and when he saw Ifa come out of the door, he immediately rushed over to him, his eyes shining. “So? What did he want? I wanna know.”
Ifa hesitated for a moment. He had just promised Kinich he wouldn’t tell anyone about it. Or rather he was supposed to not tell anyone who wasn’t already involved. Wasn’t Ororon technically already involved in this? Kinich was probably thinking the same when he phrased it that way. Would he break the deal by telling Ororon the whole story when Kinich was already thinking that Ororon knew anyway? He was planning to tell him the story yesterday, but kind of forgot after everything that happened. But being as curious as Ororon was now, he wouldn’t be able to keep it from him, wasn’t he? Ororon had his way of getting anything he wanted out of him, time and time again. Rather give it to him willingly and tell him in a way he can control, right?
“Yesterday, when I went to get a new battery for the remote, I knocked on Kinich’s door and… well, I overheard him having someone in his room. He just asked me not to tell anyone. Technically not even you, but shh you don’t know this from me.” Ifa tried to make it clear to Ororon that he absolutely must not tell anyone else.
“What so Kinich is allowed to take someone to his hotel room on vacation, but I have to wait until we’re back in Natlan, how is this fair?” Ororon pouted looking at him with big puppy eyes making Ifa’s face flush again.
“Hey, not so loud! We’ve already discussed this. I want this to work out well for both of us.” He lowered his voice, hoping that Ororon would also speak more quietly in public about this topic.
“I know. It still seems a bit unfair to me. Who was he with anyways?”
Ifa fought with himself over how much knowledge he should reveal or what part to leave out.
“I’m not sure. Someone with blonde hair, but I couldn’t see it clearly.” It was at least half the truth, an innocent white lie. That should be vague enough, Ifa told himself.
“Someone with blonde hair? With green streaks by any chance? Isn’t that just Ajaw in his human form?”
Ifa’s mouth fell open in astonishment. What?
“What?” he said out loud. “How do you know…?”
“Oh, I’ve seen them before. That one time when I was on my way to the Scions of the Canopy I saw them together. I didn’t realize it was Ajaw at first, but I definitely recognized his voice later. They looked very busy though, so I didn’t say hi to them.”
Ifa was frankly a bit speechless. This was somehow very on brand for Ororon to know about things he wasn’t supposed to know. The vet opened his mouth several times to say something, but what came out wasn’t what he wanted to express.
“Does Kinich know that you know about this?” he asked after a while, checking out his surroundings to see if the person in question didn’t happen to appear nearby out of nowhere. He already established that Kinich was very high on the list of people he absolutely didn’t want to upset. Right behind Granny Itztli.
“I have no idea. I don’t think so, because I didn’t talk to them that day.” Ororon sounded as if he weren’t aware of any wrongdoing whatsoever. He didn’t technically do anything wrong but still.
“Did you tell anyone else about this?”
But Ororon just shook his head. “I don’t think so. I kind of forgot about it afterward.”
Okay that was at least a good thing. If all of Natlan had suddenly started talking about it, Kinich might think that this was Ifa’s doing.
“I think it’s best if we keep this to ourselves for now and not mention it to anyone,” Ifa suggested, looking at Ororon almost pleadingly.
“I don’t understand why, but if it’s that important to you, okay.” A faint smile played on Ororon’s lips again, a very mischievous one, but Ifa had no chance of doing anything about it anyway. “Let’s go then. You promised me a late breakfast date remember?” The archer turned around to get going, quietly humming a tune that sounded somewhat familiar to Ifa, but he couldn’t recall where he heard it before.
Cleave the darkness and seize the light
Daybreak’s meant to be free
We are gonna shatter the ties~
With such cheeky ease he changed the subject as if nothing had ever happened. And Ifa knew he was getting away with it once again, because what could he possibly do against it? Oh, this man would drive him crazy one day. But whenever that day came, Ifa would stay by his side as long as he could, because that’s where his heart belonged. That’s where he felt home. That’s where he was himself with the person he most adored.
By Ororon’s side was where he was happiest and he wouldn’t trade it for anything else, no matter what the future had in store for them.
Man, I love him so much.