Fic: Farad's Watching - PG-13
Title: Farad's Watching [Or, How the Summer Rain in Varengrad Gave Alexei Korokovsky, Age Fourteen, His First Kiss]
Pairing: Alexei/Farad
Prompt: #26 - Touch (100_prompts 30C)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Underage, Language,
Summary: Farad had always been watching over Alexei, but as time went by and the boys grew older, the watching changed. It was not until a summer day by the lake in Varengrad that either realised how different things had really become.
Farad had been watching Alexei. In that, he always had been watching Alexei - it must be known by everyone in the complex that Alexei needed to be watched over - but this time it was different. The watching had become … different. There was an underlying tone to the watching that was not there before. Before, Farad watched Alexei as a protector, keeping guard over the zealous young man and making sure he did not end up hurt in one of his little adventures. Or at least, not too hurt from one of their little adventures. There were some times when healers had been needed and once, Farad had nearly fallen off a cliff into a ravine, but on the whole, they were not badly hurt and looked back fondly on their childhood fantasies. Farad had always watched over Alexei and Alexei knew he would always be watched. It was a mutual agreement, this protection they silently agreed upon.
It was not until he was sixteen and Alexei had just turned fourteen that Farad realized the watching was changing in tone and shape. They had been swimming in the lake near their fathers’ joint vacation home, enjoying the wonderfully sunny, summer day and the quiet absence of their families. The others had gone off to the nearest town to make a gift of an expensive Northern wine to the gods at the local shrine. It was a holy occasion and Farad had begged out of it, claiming he was feeling ill. Alexei stood by him, saying he should stay behind also in case Farad took a turn for the worse. Little loyal Alexei, lying through his teeth to their fathers. Or perhaps he was not lying; after all, Alexei was notoriously trusting and Farad had not expressly said that he was faking being ill. Maybe Alexei was not so much loyal as caring. Either way, he was loyal and caring, and the two boys had spent the whole day by themselves getting into all the things they could not when their families were around. They had taken their horses for a ride down to the pond without saddles (clearly against Lord Nobelov’s rules of horse management which dictated that any horse ridden out of the stables should be wearing proper riding gear and the rider should take full responsibility for closing up the stables properly), and spent the afternoon lounging in their good fortune by the water’s edge, leaving Farad’s skin unchanged, but Alexei quite pink.
“Is it really so bad, yet, Fara?” Alexei strained his neck to try and get a good look at his own back. Farad laughed at his friend and slapped the younger boy’s shoulder, causing Alexei to shriek when Farad’s hand made sharp contact with the tender, pink skin. He glared back at the other boy and rubbed his singed skin lightly. “Damn. Mara will scold me for that later.” Farad rolled his eyes. The swear word came slowly and purposefully from Alexei’s lips, and it sounded completely unnatural. The fourteen-year-old boy was just getting used to swearing and trying to sound older by using dirty words and it often sounded fake to Farad’s ears.
"Stop that," Farad groaned at Alexei, raising a pout on the younger boy's clean face.
"Stop what?" Alexei asked innocently. Farad could hear the hesitation in his voice.
"Alay," Farad kicked sand in Alexei's direction, "we have been friends since before either of us can remember. You do not have to use dirty words around me." Alexei smiled and blushed slightly.
"I feel like a little boy if I do not, though." He admitted.
Farad chuckled. "You are going to feel like a little boy no matter what. You might as well stop swearing. The gods do not like it." He said with a smile. "Ah, Alay." The nickname came in the of a low sigh that pushed forward all the good calm feelings Farad enjoyed at that moment.
Alexei scowled at him. "You swear and the gods have not stricken you down."
"Yes, well," Farad stalled. "I am unstrickable."
"Un-strike-able," Alexei corrected him. The dusky haired boy leaned back onto his elbow, further exposing his front to the sun. Luckily for his skin, the sun was quickly hiding behind the tall trees that surrounded the lake, leaving the two friends cast in a light shadow. "I learned a new swear at the fair last week, you know." Alexei said lightly, as though the thought had just occured to him. "A merchant was yelling at me in the square when I accidentally knocked over his basket of Eastern rugs." The boy frowned in puzzlement. "I did not understand most of what he said, but some of it I caught."
"You did not understand because he was foreign?" Farad asked, closing his eyes from the sky, concentrating on Alexei's voice. It had just stopped changing, leaving his friend with a wispy baritone that would soon, Alexei fervently hoped, change to a strong bass like his father's voice was.
"No," Alexei admitted. "He was speaking Common."
"He was speaking Common and you still did not understand?" Farad shook his head. "He must have used a great deal of swears for you to miss his meaning."
Alexei snorted. "Oh, I think I got his meaning." He widened his eyes at Farad with poignancy. "It was clear from the hand motions he was gesturing at me." Alexei's own boyish hands made a vulgar gesture, pressing his palm against his chin and flicking his tongue out in a rather suggestive motion. Farad barked a laugh and smacked his young friend upside his head.
"And what did you say back?" Farad asked through his laughter. Alexei said nothing, but turned to face Farad and made another gesture, this one imitation an extremely intimate act, with a finger substituted for another appendage and his mouth substituting ... well, nothing. Farad blushed as he tried to laugh the response off. He was not sure he liked Alexei showing such vulgarity in the middle of town squares. No, he did not like it, though the motion itself was quite thrilling and was probably what had caused Farad to blush in the first place. As Alexei turned back to the sky, Farad frowned at his own thoughts, wondering vaguely if all the lake water and summer sun had gone to his head. Between his mother and Alexei's, it was often said that hot summer air could cause a distinct sort of madness that the women never elaborated on, but often referred to. Mara simply smacked them and told them to run off their Spring Fever in the grassy fields. But the rest of Farad felt fine and his head was perfectly clear. Perhaps that was the problem; everything was too clear, too obvious, and he needed only to relax and get once more into the flow of the world around him.
"So," He started slowly. "What was the new word you learned, young master?" He imitated their fathers' lore master's voice, which was menacing, but hollow at the same time. It was a terrible impression, but Alexei recognized it and laughed. His soft boyish laughter resonated through the surrounding forest and Farad felt his heart beat even more quickly. It was strange; he had not noticed it getting faster to begin with.
Alexei crawled lazily over the Farad's head and leaned over him, blocking the sky from view almost completely. "Fuck." He whispered, almost as though he were drunk on his new found maturity. Farad snorted in reaction.
"What else did he call you?" He asked. "Did you deserve some of the phrases coming your way?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, knowing full well what a trader might spit at a young teenage boy.
Alexei shrugged lightly, "Lots of things." He flipped on his side and rested his head on Farad's more developed chest. "He said to tell my owner he should not let his sweet young boy sluts out before dark." Farad coughed at this, choking on his own breath. He did not know whether it was the words themselves or the flippant way they were proffered that shocked him. Alexei raised an eyebrow in accompaniment with his sly smile. "Are you alright, Fara?" The innocent question barely masked his snicker.
Farad smacked Alexei's arm lightly and chuckled. "You should have told him that Farad Daravich Nobelov likes to let his boy sluts out a little early to catch the businessmen on their ways home."
Alexei laughed aloud. "I did not think of it. You should have been with me."
Farad smiled down at his friend. "I should always be with you. Look at what trouble you get into when I take one day off." Alexei retuned the smile eagerly before turning his face back to the sky.
The sun passed lazily behind the trees, casting the boys into a deeper, calmer shadow. The air around them stilled with the oncoming sunset and after a while, all they could hear was the light waves of the lake water against the pebbled shore.
"Farad," Alexei said softly. Farad looked down at his friend. He had almost fallen asleep on the ground, so comfortable was his with wearing just his trousers and lounging on the lake shore with his best and oldest friend. When he focused on Alexei's face, he could see it strained with concern.
He nodded. "Yes, Alay?"
Alexei kept his eyes trained on the expanse of sky above them. "Have you ever ... you know, done anything? With a girl?" The question was weightier than all the other questions Alexei had asked that day. He and Farad had discussed girls, and often, spending a good portion of their days in town talking about and appraising girls. But they had never actually discussed the mechanics of dealing with them. It just seemed like something they did not really need to talk about, like how the sky was blue, only they had had a conversation about that - several, if Farad was honest with his curious self.
"What do you mean?" He asked, trying to think of a way to properly respond.
Alexei shrugged against Farad's right arm. "I do not know. Just ... we talk about girls all the time, but we never talk about us with girls."
Farad nodded, "I suppose that is true." There was a moment of heavy silence between the two.
"Well?" Alexei prompted him.
"Well ..." Farad searched for an answer. "Yes, I suppose I have done things with girls. A girl. Or two." He was not sure how to explain it. He had kissed Alexei's cousin Larina several years ago at the Winter Solstice Festival, and then he had kissed - and more - with one of the laundry maid's daughters who was very pretty and had wanted at least one experience with a boy before she went and married the blacksmith's son.
"But have you gone all the way?" Alexei asked, his soft voice even softer in the early evening dimness. "Have you ever made love, Fara?"
Farad did not answer for a moment. "No," he replied, knowing it was the right response. And it was the truth, or at close to the truth as he could manage. The afternoon with the maid's daughter had been more ... fumbling than anything else, and even then, only hurried hands had actually managed anything. Besides, he knew Alexei's view on sexuality and did not want to upset him by making him feel like he was the only virgin out of all of their friends. He was certainly the only one of the five or six boys who had never been kissed, but Farad supposed that was rather expected, considering Alexei was the youngest at fourteen years old. Most of the other boys were at least sixteen years old and the oldest of the group had just had his twentieth birthday. But then, Farad thought, he himself had had his first kiss at fourteen; shouldn't Alexei have had at least one already?
Alexei visibly relaxed and smiled up at the sky. "Good," he said firmly. "I should not like to think you were leaving me too far behind."
Farad chuckled. "Why would I leave you behind? Who would I pass on dreadful secrets to?" He rested his hand on his stomach just beside Alexei's head. The sky began to darken noticeably until the two boys from Kredek could no longer see the far side of the lake or the billowing clouds that menaced now overhead. Their first hint that their clear summer day would not continue into a clear summer night was the pickup in the chilled breeze that crossed the lake and brushed their hair into their faces. Alexei sighed audibly and seemed to sink farther into Farad; they cool wind felt soothing against his lightly burnt skin, which had developed into full rosy splotches across his torso and arms. The first few raindrops had stung against his pink shoulders and he glared up at the now pitch black sky. He raised his eyebrows with realization and nudged Farad, who seemed to have fallen asleep in the calm of the twilight.
"Fara," Alexei whispered. Farad breathed deep and blinked his black eyes at him. "I think it is going to rain. We should head inside. Or at least," he glanced up at the quickly ominous sky, "start getting back to the house. Mara will kill us if she sees we came out here to the lake to swim instead of going to temple with the rest of them, especially since you, at least, are supposed to be not feeling well." Though his words were responsible, his actions did not reflect them; he remained lying on the ground with his friend, half turned onto his stomach, half covered in the light mud that sprung up around as he spoke. He leaned over Farad and whispered, as though speaking aloud would be too brash.
This is when Farad noticed the change in his watching habits. That time last year, he would have jumped up and dragged Alexei behind him so that they could beat their families home with enough time to wash off the weathering effects of their day. But it was not last year, and somewhere along the lines, the protection Farad had always felt over Alexei had changed until it was something he was not at all used to. There was something different about this moment, as compared to all the others that had preceded it. Even Alexei could feel it, that something was not quite right, things were not as they had always been.
Alexei shifted so that he was lingering just above Farad, his oval face protecting Farad's own face from the rain that beat heavier down on them now than ever. His dusky brown hair skimmed Farad's cheek bones, lingering cooly on Farad's flushed skin. "Fara?" Alexei asked, raising his eyebrows expectantly. Farad could feel the younger boy's shoulder press against his own, the skin warm with the sun's heat.
"Yes, Alay?" Farad responded, his voice quiet and barely audible over the storm at now raged above them.
Alexei opened his mouth to ask something, perhaps to wonder what Farad was thinking, just lying there while they became soaked with summer rain when they should have been half way home by then. But instead he froze, letting out a quickly breath before ducking down and landing his soft, innocent lips solidly on Farad's own. Farad inhaled sharply through his nose, not thinking properly enough to return the kiss immediately. He did not even think to close his eyes, but stared in shock up at the tip of Alexei's ear without actually seeing it. After a few moments, Alexei pulled away, his eyes at first curiously processing the kiss itself, locked on Farad's lips. Farad let out a shaky breath and licked his lips, faintly tasting the spiced tea Alexei had drunk not an hour before. Alexei's blue eyes met his black ones and he could see his friend frantically looking for a sign of approval, or disapproval, or anything other than the blank indifference that greeted him. Farad blinked and took a deep breath of cool summer air and leaned up, twining his fingers behind Alexei's neck and pulling the younger boy in for a proper kiss. His heartbeat raged in his chest, the kiss stealing away what breath he could have managed. Farad closed his eyes against the heat of the tension and hoped the Alexei followed suit. He pressed his lips firmly against the other boy's, but did not press so hard Alexei panicked. He furthered the kiss slowly, lightly licking the edges of Alexei's lips. Alexei sighed into him and pressed his light hand on Farad's shoulder, not pushing him away, but anchoring himself. Though the moment felt to the two of them like it lasted forever, only a few seconds passed before they broke away from each other, simply dislocating lips, but not moving away from each other, each wanting the moment to last just a little longer and hoping the other boy felt the same intensity.
At last, Alexei opened his eyes to meet Farad's and let out a slow breath. The rain now fell so hard that they could see little but each other, the black haze of the clouds covering the last few rays of the sun. They were left shrouded in the storm. After a few silent moments had passed, Alexei dropped his hand from Farad's shoulder, standing up in the mud and tilting head back, closing his eyes against the rain, but reveling in the cool relief the raindrops provided to his now fire red face. Farad did not move to stand. Instead, he marveled at his friend, the way his slight, fair body bent and swayed with the wind that accosted him and whipped his dark hair into his face. It was a magnificent picture and Farad wished desperately that he was an artist who could capture that moment in a painting so that everyone could see Alexei the way he saw the other boy now. It was an irreplaceable moment and it was soon over, Alexei opened his eyes and squinted down at Farad for a second before he held out his hand to help the older boy up from the mud. When Farad accepted the support and hauled himself to his feet, he could feel the mud slipping off his shoulder as the rain washed it away. He took a step towards Alexei, but when his foot pressed down into the earth, the mud slid, causing him to falter and slip, bracing himself against Alexei, who in turn slid in the mud. Both of them laughed at their ridiculousness and the laughing caused them to slide even more until they fell together, Farad on top of Alexei, their breath thrusting from their lungs harshly in laughter. As his chuckles subsided, Farad pushed himself up and kissed Alexei again through their smiles. This kiss was not filled with the curious anxiety that the others had and it was, instead, an expression of merriment and comfort with each other. When Farad broke away, he smiled down at Alexei, who smiled back and laughed again against the storm. Farad kissed him again and again, each kiss lightly falling on a different part of Alexei's grinning face until he once more met his pink lips and captured them deeply, pouring a lifetime of affection into the other boy's mouth.
By the time they returned to the vacation house, they found each of their mothers irate at their absence. The two mothers, and Mara, spent the better half of an our berating their ears with scolding and warnings and the threats of punishment that would be put to use the next day. Though the next morning's hours were filled caring for the poor horses who had stuck through the pouring rain the night before, neither boy minded very much. The memory of their afternoon, though it was brief and not to be repeated, became a solid confirmation of their friendship and for years afterward, whenever it rained in the summer, each boy found himself remembering wistfully that stormy summer evening by the lake.
-END-
Pairing: Alexei/Farad
Prompt: #26 - Touch (100_prompts 30C)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Underage, Language,
Summary: Farad had always been watching over Alexei, but as time went by and the boys grew older, the watching changed. It was not until a summer day by the lake in Varengrad that either realised how different things had really become.
Farad had been watching Alexei. In that, he always had been watching Alexei - it must be known by everyone in the complex that Alexei needed to be watched over - but this time it was different. The watching had become … different. There was an underlying tone to the watching that was not there before. Before, Farad watched Alexei as a protector, keeping guard over the zealous young man and making sure he did not end up hurt in one of his little adventures. Or at least, not too hurt from one of their little adventures. There were some times when healers had been needed and once, Farad had nearly fallen off a cliff into a ravine, but on the whole, they were not badly hurt and looked back fondly on their childhood fantasies. Farad had always watched over Alexei and Alexei knew he would always be watched. It was a mutual agreement, this protection they silently agreed upon.
It was not until he was sixteen and Alexei had just turned fourteen that Farad realized the watching was changing in tone and shape. They had been swimming in the lake near their fathers’ joint vacation home, enjoying the wonderfully sunny, summer day and the quiet absence of their families. The others had gone off to the nearest town to make a gift of an expensive Northern wine to the gods at the local shrine. It was a holy occasion and Farad had begged out of it, claiming he was feeling ill. Alexei stood by him, saying he should stay behind also in case Farad took a turn for the worse. Little loyal Alexei, lying through his teeth to their fathers. Or perhaps he was not lying; after all, Alexei was notoriously trusting and Farad had not expressly said that he was faking being ill. Maybe Alexei was not so much loyal as caring. Either way, he was loyal and caring, and the two boys had spent the whole day by themselves getting into all the things they could not when their families were around. They had taken their horses for a ride down to the pond without saddles (clearly against Lord Nobelov’s rules of horse management which dictated that any horse ridden out of the stables should be wearing proper riding gear and the rider should take full responsibility for closing up the stables properly), and spent the afternoon lounging in their good fortune by the water’s edge, leaving Farad’s skin unchanged, but Alexei quite pink.
“Is it really so bad, yet, Fara?” Alexei strained his neck to try and get a good look at his own back. Farad laughed at his friend and slapped the younger boy’s shoulder, causing Alexei to shriek when Farad’s hand made sharp contact with the tender, pink skin. He glared back at the other boy and rubbed his singed skin lightly. “Damn. Mara will scold me for that later.” Farad rolled his eyes. The swear word came slowly and purposefully from Alexei’s lips, and it sounded completely unnatural. The fourteen-year-old boy was just getting used to swearing and trying to sound older by using dirty words and it often sounded fake to Farad’s ears.
"Stop that," Farad groaned at Alexei, raising a pout on the younger boy's clean face.
"Stop what?" Alexei asked innocently. Farad could hear the hesitation in his voice.
"Alay," Farad kicked sand in Alexei's direction, "we have been friends since before either of us can remember. You do not have to use dirty words around me." Alexei smiled and blushed slightly.
"I feel like a little boy if I do not, though." He admitted.
Farad chuckled. "You are going to feel like a little boy no matter what. You might as well stop swearing. The gods do not like it." He said with a smile. "Ah, Alay." The nickname came in the of a low sigh that pushed forward all the good calm feelings Farad enjoyed at that moment.
Alexei scowled at him. "You swear and the gods have not stricken you down."
"Yes, well," Farad stalled. "I am unstrickable."
"Un-strike-able," Alexei corrected him. The dusky haired boy leaned back onto his elbow, further exposing his front to the sun. Luckily for his skin, the sun was quickly hiding behind the tall trees that surrounded the lake, leaving the two friends cast in a light shadow. "I learned a new swear at the fair last week, you know." Alexei said lightly, as though the thought had just occured to him. "A merchant was yelling at me in the square when I accidentally knocked over his basket of Eastern rugs." The boy frowned in puzzlement. "I did not understand most of what he said, but some of it I caught."
"You did not understand because he was foreign?" Farad asked, closing his eyes from the sky, concentrating on Alexei's voice. It had just stopped changing, leaving his friend with a wispy baritone that would soon, Alexei fervently hoped, change to a strong bass like his father's voice was.
"No," Alexei admitted. "He was speaking Common."
"He was speaking Common and you still did not understand?" Farad shook his head. "He must have used a great deal of swears for you to miss his meaning."
Alexei snorted. "Oh, I think I got his meaning." He widened his eyes at Farad with poignancy. "It was clear from the hand motions he was gesturing at me." Alexei's own boyish hands made a vulgar gesture, pressing his palm against his chin and flicking his tongue out in a rather suggestive motion. Farad barked a laugh and smacked his young friend upside his head.
"And what did you say back?" Farad asked through his laughter. Alexei said nothing, but turned to face Farad and made another gesture, this one imitation an extremely intimate act, with a finger substituted for another appendage and his mouth substituting ... well, nothing. Farad blushed as he tried to laugh the response off. He was not sure he liked Alexei showing such vulgarity in the middle of town squares. No, he did not like it, though the motion itself was quite thrilling and was probably what had caused Farad to blush in the first place. As Alexei turned back to the sky, Farad frowned at his own thoughts, wondering vaguely if all the lake water and summer sun had gone to his head. Between his mother and Alexei's, it was often said that hot summer air could cause a distinct sort of madness that the women never elaborated on, but often referred to. Mara simply smacked them and told them to run off their Spring Fever in the grassy fields. But the rest of Farad felt fine and his head was perfectly clear. Perhaps that was the problem; everything was too clear, too obvious, and he needed only to relax and get once more into the flow of the world around him.
"So," He started slowly. "What was the new word you learned, young master?" He imitated their fathers' lore master's voice, which was menacing, but hollow at the same time. It was a terrible impression, but Alexei recognized it and laughed. His soft boyish laughter resonated through the surrounding forest and Farad felt his heart beat even more quickly. It was strange; he had not noticed it getting faster to begin with.
Alexei crawled lazily over the Farad's head and leaned over him, blocking the sky from view almost completely. "Fuck." He whispered, almost as though he were drunk on his new found maturity. Farad snorted in reaction.
"What else did he call you?" He asked. "Did you deserve some of the phrases coming your way?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, knowing full well what a trader might spit at a young teenage boy.
Alexei shrugged lightly, "Lots of things." He flipped on his side and rested his head on Farad's more developed chest. "He said to tell my owner he should not let his sweet young boy sluts out before dark." Farad coughed at this, choking on his own breath. He did not know whether it was the words themselves or the flippant way they were proffered that shocked him. Alexei raised an eyebrow in accompaniment with his sly smile. "Are you alright, Fara?" The innocent question barely masked his snicker.
Farad smacked Alexei's arm lightly and chuckled. "You should have told him that Farad Daravich Nobelov likes to let his boy sluts out a little early to catch the businessmen on their ways home."
Alexei laughed aloud. "I did not think of it. You should have been with me."
Farad smiled down at his friend. "I should always be with you. Look at what trouble you get into when I take one day off." Alexei retuned the smile eagerly before turning his face back to the sky.
The sun passed lazily behind the trees, casting the boys into a deeper, calmer shadow. The air around them stilled with the oncoming sunset and after a while, all they could hear was the light waves of the lake water against the pebbled shore.
"Farad," Alexei said softly. Farad looked down at his friend. He had almost fallen asleep on the ground, so comfortable was his with wearing just his trousers and lounging on the lake shore with his best and oldest friend. When he focused on Alexei's face, he could see it strained with concern.
He nodded. "Yes, Alay?"
Alexei kept his eyes trained on the expanse of sky above them. "Have you ever ... you know, done anything? With a girl?" The question was weightier than all the other questions Alexei had asked that day. He and Farad had discussed girls, and often, spending a good portion of their days in town talking about and appraising girls. But they had never actually discussed the mechanics of dealing with them. It just seemed like something they did not really need to talk about, like how the sky was blue, only they had had a conversation about that - several, if Farad was honest with his curious self.
"What do you mean?" He asked, trying to think of a way to properly respond.
Alexei shrugged against Farad's right arm. "I do not know. Just ... we talk about girls all the time, but we never talk about us with girls."
Farad nodded, "I suppose that is true." There was a moment of heavy silence between the two.
"Well?" Alexei prompted him.
"Well ..." Farad searched for an answer. "Yes, I suppose I have done things with girls. A girl. Or two." He was not sure how to explain it. He had kissed Alexei's cousin Larina several years ago at the Winter Solstice Festival, and then he had kissed - and more - with one of the laundry maid's daughters who was very pretty and had wanted at least one experience with a boy before she went and married the blacksmith's son.
"But have you gone all the way?" Alexei asked, his soft voice even softer in the early evening dimness. "Have you ever made love, Fara?"
Farad did not answer for a moment. "No," he replied, knowing it was the right response. And it was the truth, or at close to the truth as he could manage. The afternoon with the maid's daughter had been more ... fumbling than anything else, and even then, only hurried hands had actually managed anything. Besides, he knew Alexei's view on sexuality and did not want to upset him by making him feel like he was the only virgin out of all of their friends. He was certainly the only one of the five or six boys who had never been kissed, but Farad supposed that was rather expected, considering Alexei was the youngest at fourteen years old. Most of the other boys were at least sixteen years old and the oldest of the group had just had his twentieth birthday. But then, Farad thought, he himself had had his first kiss at fourteen; shouldn't Alexei have had at least one already?
Alexei visibly relaxed and smiled up at the sky. "Good," he said firmly. "I should not like to think you were leaving me too far behind."
Farad chuckled. "Why would I leave you behind? Who would I pass on dreadful secrets to?" He rested his hand on his stomach just beside Alexei's head. The sky began to darken noticeably until the two boys from Kredek could no longer see the far side of the lake or the billowing clouds that menaced now overhead. Their first hint that their clear summer day would not continue into a clear summer night was the pickup in the chilled breeze that crossed the lake and brushed their hair into their faces. Alexei sighed audibly and seemed to sink farther into Farad; they cool wind felt soothing against his lightly burnt skin, which had developed into full rosy splotches across his torso and arms. The first few raindrops had stung against his pink shoulders and he glared up at the now pitch black sky. He raised his eyebrows with realization and nudged Farad, who seemed to have fallen asleep in the calm of the twilight.
"Fara," Alexei whispered. Farad breathed deep and blinked his black eyes at him. "I think it is going to rain. We should head inside. Or at least," he glanced up at the quickly ominous sky, "start getting back to the house. Mara will kill us if she sees we came out here to the lake to swim instead of going to temple with the rest of them, especially since you, at least, are supposed to be not feeling well." Though his words were responsible, his actions did not reflect them; he remained lying on the ground with his friend, half turned onto his stomach, half covered in the light mud that sprung up around as he spoke. He leaned over Farad and whispered, as though speaking aloud would be too brash.
This is when Farad noticed the change in his watching habits. That time last year, he would have jumped up and dragged Alexei behind him so that they could beat their families home with enough time to wash off the weathering effects of their day. But it was not last year, and somewhere along the lines, the protection Farad had always felt over Alexei had changed until it was something he was not at all used to. There was something different about this moment, as compared to all the others that had preceded it. Even Alexei could feel it, that something was not quite right, things were not as they had always been.
Alexei shifted so that he was lingering just above Farad, his oval face protecting Farad's own face from the rain that beat heavier down on them now than ever. His dusky brown hair skimmed Farad's cheek bones, lingering cooly on Farad's flushed skin. "Fara?" Alexei asked, raising his eyebrows expectantly. Farad could feel the younger boy's shoulder press against his own, the skin warm with the sun's heat.
"Yes, Alay?" Farad responded, his voice quiet and barely audible over the storm at now raged above them.
Alexei opened his mouth to ask something, perhaps to wonder what Farad was thinking, just lying there while they became soaked with summer rain when they should have been half way home by then. But instead he froze, letting out a quickly breath before ducking down and landing his soft, innocent lips solidly on Farad's own. Farad inhaled sharply through his nose, not thinking properly enough to return the kiss immediately. He did not even think to close his eyes, but stared in shock up at the tip of Alexei's ear without actually seeing it. After a few moments, Alexei pulled away, his eyes at first curiously processing the kiss itself, locked on Farad's lips. Farad let out a shaky breath and licked his lips, faintly tasting the spiced tea Alexei had drunk not an hour before. Alexei's blue eyes met his black ones and he could see his friend frantically looking for a sign of approval, or disapproval, or anything other than the blank indifference that greeted him. Farad blinked and took a deep breath of cool summer air and leaned up, twining his fingers behind Alexei's neck and pulling the younger boy in for a proper kiss. His heartbeat raged in his chest, the kiss stealing away what breath he could have managed. Farad closed his eyes against the heat of the tension and hoped the Alexei followed suit. He pressed his lips firmly against the other boy's, but did not press so hard Alexei panicked. He furthered the kiss slowly, lightly licking the edges of Alexei's lips. Alexei sighed into him and pressed his light hand on Farad's shoulder, not pushing him away, but anchoring himself. Though the moment felt to the two of them like it lasted forever, only a few seconds passed before they broke away from each other, simply dislocating lips, but not moving away from each other, each wanting the moment to last just a little longer and hoping the other boy felt the same intensity.
At last, Alexei opened his eyes to meet Farad's and let out a slow breath. The rain now fell so hard that they could see little but each other, the black haze of the clouds covering the last few rays of the sun. They were left shrouded in the storm. After a few silent moments had passed, Alexei dropped his hand from Farad's shoulder, standing up in the mud and tilting head back, closing his eyes against the rain, but reveling in the cool relief the raindrops provided to his now fire red face. Farad did not move to stand. Instead, he marveled at his friend, the way his slight, fair body bent and swayed with the wind that accosted him and whipped his dark hair into his face. It was a magnificent picture and Farad wished desperately that he was an artist who could capture that moment in a painting so that everyone could see Alexei the way he saw the other boy now. It was an irreplaceable moment and it was soon over, Alexei opened his eyes and squinted down at Farad for a second before he held out his hand to help the older boy up from the mud. When Farad accepted the support and hauled himself to his feet, he could feel the mud slipping off his shoulder as the rain washed it away. He took a step towards Alexei, but when his foot pressed down into the earth, the mud slid, causing him to falter and slip, bracing himself against Alexei, who in turn slid in the mud. Both of them laughed at their ridiculousness and the laughing caused them to slide even more until they fell together, Farad on top of Alexei, their breath thrusting from their lungs harshly in laughter. As his chuckles subsided, Farad pushed himself up and kissed Alexei again through their smiles. This kiss was not filled with the curious anxiety that the others had and it was, instead, an expression of merriment and comfort with each other. When Farad broke away, he smiled down at Alexei, who smiled back and laughed again against the storm. Farad kissed him again and again, each kiss lightly falling on a different part of Alexei's grinning face until he once more met his pink lips and captured them deeply, pouring a lifetime of affection into the other boy's mouth.
By the time they returned to the vacation house, they found each of their mothers irate at their absence. The two mothers, and Mara, spent the better half of an our berating their ears with scolding and warnings and the threats of punishment that would be put to use the next day. Though the next morning's hours were filled caring for the poor horses who had stuck through the pouring rain the night before, neither boy minded very much. The memory of their afternoon, though it was brief and not to be repeated, became a solid confirmation of their friendship and for years afterward, whenever it rained in the summer, each boy found himself remembering wistfully that stormy summer evening by the lake.
-END-