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 Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 9:04 am
Chardonnay, this time. Bouncing delicately in twin glasses, effervescent and shimmering when the sun dared not look upon them. His steps had gotten better, more accustomed, but there was the occasional pivot to avoid another warm body that sent the wine reaching for the rim. He hadn't spilled any, though. Not today. And he was almost to his destination — the sprawled and brooding goth, the stroke of bad luck, with a book in hand and thoughts a-wander.
Non enim videbit me homo et vivet, he thought to himself with a pleasant smile.
In one hand, the hale hand, that spotless glass of chardonnay and a fat white peach nestled in the grip of ring and little fingers. His nails had gotten longer. Left little dents against the glistering, supple skin. In the other hand, the hurt hand, a glass of wine on its lonesome, for he still couldn't entrust any weight to that finger. With bare feet he padded off the threshold, down the stone steps, about the pool, wearing nothing but a pair of I'm-so-brooding shorts taken-borrowed from Malory's closet. Eles toed his way around the sprawling sloth and squatted down beside him.
He set the glass near Malory's wrist. Deposited the peach in the very folds of his latest read.
Want to talk to you, he signed. Then he reached up and pulled the peach from his mouth, tearing away a thick and juicy chunk to chew and swallow down.
Shifting, he sat back on his hip, let his legs bend and lounge at their own awkward angles. With the sun so wrapped in dismal cloud cover, it was a shame he couldn't cast a shadow. Couldn't draw away the other boy's attention by simply existing in his space.
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 9:13 am
Malory was nearly a shadow himself, in his black, low slung pajama pants and sheer black robe with subtle floral patterning. The pale stretch of his chest, slathered in spf 100 despite the dreary day, only made the rest of him all the more stark in the contrast. The wine didn't receive comment or acknowledgement, but the peach startled Malory right out of the text. He'd managed to carry drinks and snacks out for both without stumbling or tripping enough to note? Well, Malory supposed, all fun things come to an end. And he had brought an offering. So he placed the book aside, Little Women of all things, and watched Eles take his rough, greedy bite. I suppose you have something specific in mind? Malory signed back before lifting his own peach and giving it a little lick. A moment later and he was delicately tearing off the skin with a dainty n** and tug of teeth. His eyes drifted down to Eles bad hand and then back up to the other boy's eyes.
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 9:18 am
Ever a feast for the eyes, like he was pretending to tan in all that gray. Paler than those pages.
As he chewed, used his hale wrist to wipe away a thin rivulet of juice from his chin, he signed with the bandaged hand. Even if it hurt. Your proposal. Worker or pet. As if it could be anything else.
Malory, he thought. Derived from Old French maleüré. Mal, mis, un. Leüré, luck, fortune.
Another bite, another thoughtful pause.
I could've wound up anywhere. On the street, in a gang, face-down in a gutter. But I landed on my feet, didn't I? Thanks to you. You let me have all my petty little crimes. Stolen journals, taped up mirrors. You let me put you off and you haven't kicked me out yet. Keep indulging this sack of poor impulses and I'll owe you the whole world before the month is out.
So I was thinking. He shifted, ever unable to hold completely still, toes teasing the edge of that ostentatious bathrobe that Malory so adored.
Maybe I owe you that choice. Which would you want? Peon or pet?
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 9:20 am
Tearing away another strip of skin, Malory nodded along with the list of all the little blessings Eles had received through him, finally giving a soft little laugh at the question. Picked up and indulged to this degree, what could that be except the existence of a stray, a little too pampered for its own good? Though true, the lack of clear choice and acknowledgement led to Eles not really getting any of the more tangible benefits.
The thought of having the boy work for him now, gave Malory's a gut a little twist of distaste. It'd be such a waste of time. Time better spent with Malory, or ranging across the city, or filling in the blanks of his own canvas.
The soft, wet flesh of the fruit was slowly revealed, and Malory quietly lapped at it as he considered. He gave it a little suck before answering, Do you want to take any art workshops? There's quite a few for the summer. He shifted, leaving a little space on the lounge for Eles to squeeze in and likely aggravate one of his wounds.
I promised you enrichment, didn't I? And the days of understimulation had been a little hard on Eles, even if he'd more than earned that little punishment.
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 9:20 am
The non-sequitur gave him pause, and Eles looked at Malory like he wasn't sure if he missed a step in a long and complicated dance. He bit his peach, down to the core, where the deep red stone of its heart looked almost grey in the lack of sunlight.
Maybe, he answered at first. Then, a moment later, Sure.
Eles hadn't felt any particular way about art. Being able to draw was useful to him. Useful for doing the job of a camera when he had no phone to his name. Useful for showing those briefest nuances of life that no camera dared record, like that furtive first glance shared between mirror and boy whenever Malory walked past. Doing a workshop meant trying to improve on the craft, but for what? He wasn't the one making oil paintings of Malory year after year. But, it could be a way to make money. His money.
Getting up with a grunt, Eles fetched his own glass and joined the boy on his lounge. Chardonnay tasted sharp, crisp, with an undercurrent of vanilla like an afterthought to the peach's sweetness.
He looked over at Malory, so dark and appropriately brooding. Bad luck, he thought. Misfortune. He reached out to pluck the flopping skin from the peach with his injured hand, then brought it to his own mouth to chew and savor.
Waste not, want not, he teased with a flourish of his hand. Even if it hurt to feel the stitches pull.
Take me when you go out at night, too, he added. Still haven't found anything to be afraid of.
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 9:21 am
Stealing table scraps already. Malory's smile dimpled as he sat up and learned in, the space between them turning small and private. Gently taking that injured hand, he began counting with Eles's fingers, "A bank card. Classes. A phone. My evenings." He lifted the last finger, unticked and mangled, and bent down to give it a little kiss.
"Aren't you very lucky?" Nights with Hybris would test just how lucky, and maybe supply a measure of fear or two. The memory, of gripping, singing, raging fire brushed against his spine. Well, they'd really have to avoid that one, at least.
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 9:21 am
Oh.
Oh.
Malory wasn't dodging the question and moving onto pleasantries. He was answering it with implication. No, a straight answer wouldn't have enough style and mystery, would it?
But, for a spell, he forgot the peach in his good hand. Forgot the glass of chardonnay balanced delicately at his side. Forgot the pool with its clear and placid waters. A Boy was now quite close, in kissing distance even, and Eles held his breath as if the smallest sound might spook said Boy and send him running.
Ignacio was maddeningly right about him. It was hard not to like Malory.
Eles stared at the lips that touched his wrapped gauze. Probably painted over with chapstick, at least SPF 30. Peach-flavored for how much he played with his food.
'Aren't you very lucky?' Was he? Wasn't he?
Eles drew in a breath as he realized his mouth had slackened just so. Blinked away for a moment. Remembered the peach in his hand, its sugarspun melody latent on his tongue.
Malheur. Malchance. L'infortune.
Missgeschick. Pech.
Pêche.
He nodded with the slightest incline of his head then blinked his attention toward the pool. Pinning the peach between his teeth again, he signed back. Luckier than the ******** stars. All million billion of them.
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 9:22 am
Ah, now that was a nice look, wasn't it?
"Much luckier." Because why bother with fallen worlds, when fallen people could be so much more delicious?
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