Yakusoku.

Chapter 4

The breeze blew softly through Cless's honey brown hair. Delicate caresses ran through every lock drawing in Chester's keen eye. As a master archer Chester caught all details like the age of a bird judging by its flight. Older ones flew slowly in a controlled steady line. Younger ones darted quickly erratic in their pattern. Cless moved on the path ahead steadily, not slow or fast, but focused in a casual walk. He carried himself that way from training hour upon hour in fencing. Again Chester recalled rich details.

Yesterday before hunting Chester waited outside the fencing school as usual. Other students dispersed after practice. In the morning light Chester peered into the hall. He heard the sound of breathing, a heavy panting from the rise and fall of one's chest, Cless's. Chester's sight left the wooden floor wandering into Cless's faint shadow and over his naked feet. Cless wore the black bodysuit, usually under his armor revealing his physique.

Contemplating the smooth planes of Cless’s chest, the musculature of his limbs, all beneath that fabric, he yearned deeply for Cless. A fire in his blood had drawn his senses inward to the core of his manliness consuming all logic.

In the present Cless noticed his daydreaming. Maybe he's thinking about me the same way I think of him. Every night I’d wish he were there. Not just in heart, but body too, pretending his touch was mine as I quelled my own passions.

As he pondered Cless raised an empty palm up. Any vestiges of his faint smile vanished like dew in the morning sun. Yet it in the end I fell asleep…and alone.

After so many nights Cless could no longer bear the emptiness. That was why he had to show Chester how he felt through that kiss on the road. When their lips met the emptiness from those nights became joy. Although it brought joy to Cless he realized he hurt Chester once they arrived in the Mystic forest.

Cless knows how he turned me on. Shaking his head, Chester strode forward with his bow poised in front and an arrow from his quiver. "Let's keep hunting," he said plainly.

"Alright," Cless replied, quieted by the distance Chester planted between them.

While they continued in the forest Chester occasionally glanced at Cless to see if he changed. Cless remained calm allowing Chester a few paces in front.

Even if I'm an ass, he's still nice, Chester thought inwardly. Always been that way.

I love him always have, a voice echoed within Cless's heart. The dryad's presence from before awakened in Cless a new awareness of his feelings for Chester. Cless never knew the source of his dreams nor where they dwelt. In his feelings for Chester, Cless also discovered a deeper part of himself although he couldn't understand.

Lost in thought they arrived at a crystal clear lake nestled deep in the mystic valley. Its verdant slopes rolled down gently to the water's edge where dragonflies danced and tadpoles darted. Further out the lake's smooth mirror surface reflecting a perfect image of the valley's snow capped peaks above. The beauty brought tears to Cless's eyes seeing the same shade of blue, the color of sky reflected off the water in Chester's own eyes.

Drowning in their depths, Cless reached for him.

"H-hey!" Surprise broke over Chester's handsome features. He stumbled back on the shore dropping his bow. "Aren't we resting, Cless?"

"Resting?" Cless murmured dreamily. His lids closed halfway over his stormy gray eyes. His movement slowed entirely as if time and space constrained him.

Chester felt his heartbeat pound in his entire body drawing together all senses. "Cless..." he cried meekly, hearing Cless's name caught in his throat. "I..."

Cless's strong hands, solid from years of fencing, seized Chester gently laying him down beneath. His lips descended on Chester's silencing any protest.

"Chester, I love you..." Cless whispered softly in Chester’s pale ear.

The depth of emotion bared in Cless's soul made any resistance in Chester melt like ice on molten fire. Blood rushing through his limbs, torso and head went still. His mouth gaped open gasping for air finding all speech abandoned him.

If I refuse him I’ll hurt him. Chester’s conscious churned within. But I’m afraid too, of how badly I want him. Is this right? He’s been childhood friend. To be romantic with him is like falling in love with my own blood brother? What should I do?

Squeezing his eyes shut, Chester’s head fell to the side out of frustration. Muscle by muscle his body turned limp from exhaustion. His mind drifted to the sweet aroma of grass just under his nose and its texture beneath his cheek. Fresh earth too mingled into the smell relaxing his full inner self. Chester found himself drawn into stillness, a place where neither time nor space existed, only the present moment in oneness.

Moments that Chester could not tell were dream or reality gradually passed, his mind slipping into a semi-conscious state. Previous worries rippled out and away over the surface of his conscious. Soon it became clear like the lake's mirror surface. But unlike the scenery reflected off if, a perfect image of Cless came in Chester's mind, clear yet broken like sunlight dancing on water.

Why am I thinking about him? Chester mused. I forgot. Is still he on me?

"Chester?" Cless called out softly an inch from his ear, lowering his weight down on Chester slowly.

The warmth of flesh from above covered only by a thin layer of cloth pressed into Chester's torso.

He took his armor off, didn't he? Chester realized mentally. What's up with him?

"Hey, Cless..." came a rumble from Chester's throat. He propped himself up from behind with his arms.

Cless slid lower from his previous position on Chester's stomach now straddling his friend square in the lap. Both froze immediately feeling the friction between their bodies at the closest, most intimate point of contact. Without even moving a small wave started in each of their bodies coursing throughout. Impassioned, the intimacy of both pressed closer like an affectionate embrace. Tensions mounted to the pick of a pin, not quite bursting when the pair realized their arousals.

Too surprised to move, Cless felt a blush almost as red as his blood boil in his face. "Chester! I-I..." he stammered, at a loss of words, his stormy eyes going wide.

"Haha!" Chester burst out laughing onto his side into sweet damp grass.

"What?" Cless snapped suddenly, tumbling off Chester.

"Your face! Like you've seen a ghost." Chester kicked himself in the ass mentally trying to stifle another laugh. He winked at Cless, pointing a hand. "I can tell. You've never done it..."

"Done what?" Cless went so red Chester swore his very face would burst.

"You know...with a girl," Chester replied coolly, allowing a slight grin to peak.

Cless's mouth simply gaped open and his eyes remained wide.

"I guess I could tell. The way you acted, it was different from..." Chester sat straight up, peering out over the lake, his expression now serious. His voice went hushed. "...Jen and Pennington," he continued. "I saw them the other day, behind the church. They were..."

"I know," Cless replied knowingly, seated next to Chester on his knees. "Making love," he put it politely. He said softly, as if taboo, "I think Jen is pregnant. That's why the wedding, me being an usher."

As Chester spoke, a trembling filled his cadence. "Jen's parents would...kill her."

Cless nodded silently, folding his hands over his knees. "They're nervous, especially Pennington."

"So he takes it out on us." Resentment tinged Chester's tone. Hot-blooded when angry Chester's temper flared easily. Life made him solemn from the death of his parents, forcing him to be like a father to his sister. Loss and responsibility had carved his tender heart hard.

Cless always knew this deeply looking out for his friend more than his own self. He masked any pain, kind in countenance to his beloved. He said little letting action speak for words by laying a hand on Chester's shoulder.

Glancing at Cless he took a deep breath. Yeah, I should let it go, he told himself. I'm still thinking about them.

"What is it?" Cless asked, aware of Chester contemplating by his low gaze peering out over the lake.

"Behind that church..." Speaking above a whisper Chester trailed off. "Watching them made me..." Sighing, he said flatly, "...jealous."

Cless listened intently inching over to Chester.

"Pennington's got a girl." Chester's head sunk between his shoulders. His sight wandered below. "I tried to have one too. The storekeeper's daughter."

"Did you go," Cless paused, his heart beating hard. "...All the way?"

Silence pierced the very air Chester exhaled. His features stiffened completely. His lips tight with tension and brows angled down knit together, he nodded ever subtly. A whisper crept out. "A week ago. Then after I caught her with..."

"...Another guy," Cless finished. He knew the same old story, the drama of relations.

"I did it cause Pennington started talking. But then she just..." In a pain choked expression, Chester uttered, "...used me." Tears brimmed in his beautiful blue eyes.

"Go ahead, cry," Cless reassured. His gentle tone stayed the same. You're my best friend, I love you so much, Chester.

With a meek nod Chester buried his face into Cless's strong chest, this time feeling his heartbeat, without the armor between them.

TBC