34. Hand in hand

Sitting on top of their new bed, Cid watched Floreo arranging his latest handicraft. He took some discarded deer antlers from the forest and attached them to a piece of wood he carved.

Then he added acorns and dried tree bark, turning whole thing into a depiction of natural scenery. Looking from a distance, it was even hard to tell that antlers were a base of it.

Walls were already decorated with similar creations. Branches weaved into shapes of animal faces. Dry flowers mimicking mountain scenery.

Cid watched how focused Floreo was. His usually playful eyes, were now sharp. His nimble fingers gently pressing pieces to fit together according to image he had in his mind. His whole body, that normally moved all the time, was fixed in same posture for almost an hour now.

An hour during which Cid did nothing but observed the intricate creative display of his lovers beautiful soul. He fell in love, Cid was now sure of that. He, who thought of himself as jaded middle-aged run of the mill soldier, just waiting for end of times.

Well, end of times were postponed thanks to Xul. Before he could even comprehend implications of that, he got roped into this mission. At that time, he had no thoughts of romance. He lost that ages ago.

Sure, he had that fling with Geb, but it did not last long, two cycles perhaps. And yes, he joined a few tournaments that first cycle when Game Room started to operate, but by the time twins arrived he no longer participated for a long time.

He knew though, that all four quadruplets participated more or less occasionally. He learned that when following Yax as his bodyguard slash nanny, while Yax tried to rope Ivory into teaming up with him for more than card games.

Though, none of four were in core league.

They were just like he was once upon a time, young and curious. Full of pent up energy. Eventually, only Hama and Wuo joined the league at probation level, while Echo and Floreo got adopted by Dagda and stopped going to Game Room completely.

When Floreo sat down beside him that evening by the fire, he was playfully tempting and Cid looked at him and just thought 'why not', both were old enough and free. Hooking up for a while was nothing serious, just warming eachother on cold spring nights.

Then nights turned to weeks, spring to summer, and his recreational dalliance grew into infatuation, and from there into pure passionate adoration towards Floreo.

Cid got up from the bed and walked towards Floreo. He stopped just before touching him, then stood there, observing over his shoulder final adjustments as artwork was being finished.

"What do you think?" Floreo asked.

"Beautiful." Cid answered.

He watched as Floreo swept away surplus material, then pushed finished diorama a bit further away on the table to observe it. When Floreo tried to push back his chair and stand up, he noticed Cid blocking him in.

"What's up?" He asked looking up at Cid quizzically.

Cid leaned down and kissed his neck, then bit his ear and whispered "I might not be very gentle tonight." That made Floreo shiver head to toe. He twisted in his chair and grabbed Cid's head, biting his lips in response.

Cid pulled the chair then lifted Floreo up, and carried him towards the bed. As he undressed him and arranged in an artistic nude display, Floreo let him do as he wishes. He enjoyed Cid's focus on his body. He half expected Cid to pull out an easel and brushes to make a painting of him.

He did not notice it at first, being completely swept off his feet by unexpectedly passionate way Cid handled their intimacy, but Cid did had a bit of a theatrical approach.

He treated it as an act of art, intimate dance, where every pose and move had a meaning. As if he was being told a story through deliberately slow motions, touches, changes in position, intensity of energy exchanged.

Floreo regularly ended up melted in a moaning pile of goo, completely lost in sensations Cid invoked inside of him. He embraced it, drowned in it, and then Cid would pull him up to the surface and kiss him untill he was back in real world again.

Tucked in strong warm hug, almost purring his satisfaction, Floreo reminded himself that he should not totally lose it, and ruin everything by going out of bounds. He was told about Cid's tendency to keep his relationships short lived, barely a casual flings.

He thought nothing of it when he noticed Cid observing his brother and Blaze flirting. If that silly brother of his is even capable of doing that. He felt playful, and decided to just go with it. Have a little fun.

Now, as he was cradled in this encompassing warmth, he hoped that this few months could stretch to a few years, a decade or two, maybe a cycle if he is lucky. That would be just perfect. To keep Cid by his side, feeling him silently observing everything Floreo did, then listening as he was wordlessly telling him most wonderful stories through their bodies.

Next morning came as all other mornings. With sounds of greetings as others woke up and started to move outside. Smell of Mani's coffee, Blaze yelling his breakfast wishes, Cid gently removing his hold around him and leaving to start another day of work.

Valley was gradually getting cleared, even though they had to take longer breaks around noon to avoid getting a heatstroke. Thus, they got up before sunrise, to make use of early hours before sun gets too obnoxious.

Floreo got up, and took a towel to the river to wash up. Cid was still there, already refreshed, combing his long hair and braiding it for the day. Most older crew members wore their hair long. Floreo though kept his own hair to the shoulder length, just long enough so he can casually tie it when working. Yet, he loved the sight of Cid's long hair.

Breakfast was no longer familiar porridge, they finished all that was brought along. Now they usually had flatbread, made of a mixture of ground acorns and black locust seeds. Taste was funny, but with blackberries added it was passable. As long they got right amount of nutrients, it was fine. Once they get their home back, they will raid gardens and demand from Geb and Hama to make them a victory feast.

"We need fresh meat" Echo said "whose turn it's now to hunt?"

Everyone looked at Blaze "I went last time, it's Cid now!" He did it if he had, but was not really interested in killing animals to the point of doing it every time.

"All right," Cid accepted without fussing about it, he felt like having a nice roast anyway "where did you go last?"

"West side, got us that deer we had last week." Blaze said. They kept changing hunting locations to not spook animals too much.

"Then I will go east today." Cid thought about trying to catch one of the goats that climbed up he hills on that side.

"I'll go with you," Floreo said, "there is a patch of locusts on the slope there, gonna pick their seeds while you hunt." He planned to also cut some of their branches, they were great for carving.

Yax took Blaze to drag the logs they cut previous day out of area to dry, Jone and Ivory went to check vegetable patch they created near the river, while Echo and Mani had a laundry day to handle.

Everyone went to do their own thing, aware that in just a few hours sun will climb and turn the whole area into a baking pan. Fact that there is only a few trees left standing in the valley did not help.

As they climbed towards eastern hills, Floreo talked about his new project that he wanted to do next. Cid wondered where does he get those ideas.

When they reached black locust patch, Cid helped with clearing the ground under them and spreading tent canvas that they used to gather seeds now.

"I can finish the rest," Floreo stopped him from shaking trees "go catch us a fat one, I want to eat some goat stew!"

Cid caught his arm and pulled him in for a kiss "Will be back soon." Then he went on to climb up the steep slope towards area where goats usually grazed during daytime.

Watching him leave, Floreo once again wondered would he ever get to see this side of Cid if they did not have to go out to this mission. Most likely not. He would work in gardens, Cid would follow Yax around, they would greet eachother in passing, and that would be it.

That's how it went for past 20 cycles. And without external force that moved them out of their comfort zone, that's how it would go forever. Scary thought to have. He raised his arm, grabbed a low branch, and pulled his body up to climb nearest locust tree.

Standing on top of the hill, with a dead goat by his feet, Cid looked towards east plains. River was still there meandering away. Scorching sun was up high. But he did not go back to the shade of trees.

His eyes were glued to fuzzy eastern horizon. In other directions, he saw a clear line. But on the east, gray mist appeared and grew.