Moonlit Lake

Characters: Fang, Orion

“Come on, I want to take you somewhere”

Following Fang’s crazy idea’s was rarely ever a good thing. Yet despite knowing this Orion followed his closest friend through the endless string of trees in the southern part of Lama’s main continent. It was a lot warmer than the northern section that the capital called home, but while it was a bit overbearing for Orion, Fang probably welcomed the heat with his favorite lopsided grin.

“Where are you taking me?” Orion asked again after some time of following Fang in silence. Maybe wearing his diplomatic boots wasn’t such a good idea after all. His feet were starting to hurt from hiking in the heels and these boots were not exactly made for long distance walking.

“We’re almost there! Just a little bit further.” Any further and Orion’s feet were going to fall off. Yet he said nothing and continued to follow a bit behind his friend. He made it this far, might as well see what all the fuss was about. Besides there was no doubt that Erin would have Fang’s head if he found out that he had somehow managed to sneak Orion out in the middle of the night and Orion did want to make sure that Bestia’s King returns home alive for more than just diplomatic purposes.

After a few minutes Fang turned around to face Orion and rested his hands on his hips. “Now, close your eyes.”

Orion raised an eyebrow, only to once more be met by Fang’s previous statement. His tone, while playful, was not leaving much room for arguing. Orion did as he was told and closed his eyes. He heard Fang step closer to him and took all his willpower not to jam his elbow into his nose when he felt Fang’s hands on his shoulders, slowly guiding him forward.

“Relax, I’m not going to hurt you.” Orion shuttered at the way the words were whispered into his ear. He didn’t even notice that he was tense, usually Fang had the opposite effect on him. Maybe it was just years of being the butt to Erin’s jokes and pranks that made Orion uneasy when in the hands of another.

“Now, no peeking!” Orion could hear the warmth of Fang’s smile through his voice.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Orion allowed himself to be completely under Fang’s control, simply following along down the path created for him.

When Fang stopped he hadn’t given Orion any warning, causing him to trip on his own feet. “Don’t stop so suddenly!”

“But we’re here!” Orion could feel Fang reach to something in front of him, and he could hear the rustle of vines. “Now open your eyes!”

When Orion did, he was met with a beautiful sight. In the center of a large clearing was a lake with black sand creating it’s frame. On the outside edges of the sandy bank were all sorts of flowers in a rainbow’s worth of color that Orion had only ever seen in books. The glow from the full moon danced on the water with fireflies as it’s partner, creating an almost enchanting and magical sight. Orion worried that if he blinked, it would all disappear.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Fang asked, stepping beside Orion.

“It is.”

“I’m glad you like it. Coda found it when we were trying to establish some trading deals in this area. I instantly thought of bringing you here.” Orion wouldn’t lie and say his heart didn’t leap a little at those words. Fang had always been a sweet talker and had quite the silver tongue. At this point in their friendship Orion was (mostly) immune to his charms. Maybe it was the somewhat romantic atmosphere that caused the shift, or maybe it was the sense of pride in knowing that he was the first person Fang had wanted to show this too.

Thinking that this was all he wanted to show him, Orion waited for Fang's word to start their trip back to the hotel he and Erin were staying at. Instead, Fang walked closer to the bank of the pond, taking off his jacket during the process.

"You ever swam before?" Fang folded and placed his jacket on a nearby rock on the bank.

“You dragged me out here to go swimming?” Orion crossed his arms and watched as Fang unlaced his boots.

“You dodged the question.” Fang teased. Orion’s eyes rolled for no one but himself to see. The clattering of Fang’s beaded jewelry filled the silence that Orion had left wide open.

“No.” Orion answered after some time. “I’ve never swam for fun before.”

Fang looked back at Orion, the end of his shirt held tightly in his hands and confusion written all over his face. Maybe Fang had simply forgotten that Orion wasn’t allowed the freedom he had growing up. He remembers all the fun stories Fang told him of his youth, from climbing Bestia’s monstrous trees to jumping off shallow cliffs into deep blue waters at the dare of the friends he was allowed to make. All Orion ever knew growing up was battle strategies and fencing lessons. Even now, Orion wasn’t exactly allowed the freedom Fang had. He was usually stuck in his office trying to undo generations of civil oppression and military inflation without causing a depression or even worse: another civilian uprising. Fang was allowed to travel the stars and still managed to keep his people happy and healthy even if he wasn’t on the planet himself.

“Well then,” Fang snapped himself out of his daze as he removed his shirt and put it with the rest of his clothing “it’s an honor to experience this with you first.”

Fang reached out his hand for Orion to take. With no hesitation, Orion placed his hand in Fang’s. Even if Orion was wearing his gloves, he could feel the rough calluses on his friend’s hand from years of boyish activities. Fang led Orion onto the bank, and he wasn’t particularly happy with how his boots sank into the sand.

Under the glow of the pale full moon, Fang dragged Orion into the lake before he could even say anything. He wasn’t one to be caught off guard, but then again, he never seemed to be himself when alone in Fang’s presence.

Orion could feel his clothes growing heavy and sticking to his skin from the water, whereas the droplets seemed to dance off Fang like oil on water. The Bestian shook the water off his hair, his ears popping out during the process. Fang looked over at Orion and smiled.

“You seem uncomfortable.” Fang teased. Orion probably looked like a cat who jumped out of a bath.

“And you seem overly comfortable.” Fang laughed off Orion’s jab and sunk down into the water. He didn’t say a word when Orion stomped back onto the bank and began to shred himself of his damp clothes.

Stupid Fang.

Orion placed his soggy clothes onto a rock not far from where Fang had left his. It felt nice to be done with the heavy ornamental gear he had foolishly decided to wear for this impromptu outing. Orion should have known better than to dress up when Fang came knocking.

Orion looked back at Fang to find him floating on his back in the lake, his arms secured safely behind his head and his canine like ears perked up to prevent water from getting inside them. Fang seemed to have noticed a set of eyes on him and turned to look back at Orion.

Orion turned away when their eyes made contact, choosing to ignore the heat that was rising on his cheeks.

“Nervous?” Fang called out. Only the sound of cicadas and crickets answered him. Orion took a deep breath and walked back to the lake. If Erin were here he would have made some jab at Orion’s expense on how meek his king was acting.

But Erin wasn’t here, it was just him and Fang so he would allow himself to be slightly more open than usual.

“Around you? Of course not.” Orion looked over at Fang, an unusual, teasing smirk on his face. This seemed to have caught Fang off guard, given as to how he blushed a rather attractive shade of red before dunking his head underwater. Orion suppressed a laugh, finding success in his first win that night.

Stripped of everything except his pants, Orion joined Fang back into the lake. “So what does one usually do when they go swimming for fun?”

“Depends between person to person and who you’re with.” Fang answered, popping back out of the water directly behind Orion. If Orion hadn’t known any better, he would have thought that Fang was from Sirena with how he seemed to blend into the water. “There are lots of games to play when swimming, but not a lot that only need two people.”

“I see.” Orion watched as Fang floated on his back, telling him about some games he used to play with friends as a boy. He seemed so happy talking about his friends, some came and went while others moved on to become some of his most loyal attendants. There was this sort of sparkle in his amber colored eyes. The spark of life that could once only be found in Orion with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other.

Orion was so caught in admiring Fang he hadn’t noticed that he stopped telling his story. He bounced back to reality when Fang poked his forehead.

“Are you still there or is your brain officially gone to mush?” Fang teased, a hand hanging off his hip.

“I was just admiring the view.” Orion quipped back without much of a second thought.

“Something tells me you’re not talking about the lake.”

“I’m not.”

Fang gave out a hearty laugh before wrapping his arms around Orion and pulling him close. Orion tried to ignore the beating of his own heart drumming in his ears at the sudden contact. Whatever Fang had whispered in his ear, Orion hadn’t been able to register it. For all he knew, Fang could have told him that Mistero had hot pink elephants and neon green giraffes roaming around the streets during the night.

But based on the way that Fang placed a gentle kiss onto the top of his head before letting him go and diving underwater, Orion knew that it couldn’t have been that ridiculous.

Maybe.