In Each Other

Gobsmacked. He’d heard Orlha use the word teasingly, and it seemed the only thing that could describe how he felt. Yep, gobsmacked. Totally and utterly. Worse than he’d ever been gobsmacked before. It was so bad that he could hardly move; his left eye was twitching and the fingers of his right hand kept curling and uncurling around the leg of his trousers, but that was about it.

“Shit.” It was all he could think of to say. It was sad, he supposed, that his vocabulary had diminished to that one singular word, but it seemed to sum up the situation nicely. So he it it again, louder. “Shit!”

A head poked into the room, followed quickly by a body. Doc motioned him out of the way bruquely, settling down where Karsh had been to check Norris’s pulse and respiration. After a minute long flurry of activity, he rose again, seemingly satisfied. Glancing over at Karsh, he motioned towards the gap in the curtains. Karsh, still stunned, followed obediently.

“Looks like he exhausted himself,” Doc said once they had emerged into the open. “Just let him sleep a bit and he’ll be fine.” Karsh nodded absently, patted Doc on the shoulder, and meandered towards the ladder that would take him out of Radius’s underground hideout. He still couldn’t form a coherent thought, and while that didn’t surprise him it did kind of cheese him off.

“Shit,” he murmured to himself as he climbed. “ShitshitshitshitshitshitSHIT!” In a fit of impotent fury, Karsh lashed out at the nearest object to him, a bit of scorched tree. It disengaged from the rest of the treetrunk with a mighty crand and sailed in a perfectly described arc into the forest. His toe throbbing from the force of the blow, Karsh hobbled the rest of the way down, occasionally kicking the trunk again, although not with such vehemence.

“Problems?” Karsh turned to face the speaker, recognizing at once the husky soprano. Orlhaod rod regarding him with a bemused smile on her full lips, ponytails bobbing like pendulums on either side of her heart-shaped face. She laced her arm through his, easily leading him away from the burned ruin of the hideout and into the shelter of the forest that surrounded it. “C’mon, you can tell me.”

“You don’t wanna know, trust me,” he muttered, trying to pull his arm away. Orlha smiled beatifically and clamped down on him with a vise-like grip. “Um, OW.” Karsh directed a glare at her, but his heart just wasn’t in it.

“Of course I want to know! I’m a bartender, Karshy-poo, and therefore am required to ascertain the troubles of those around me.” Her violet eyes twinkled up at him, but there was a hardness behind the humor that clearly left no room for argument. “So. Spill it.”

“Its Norris,” Karsh replied grudgingly. Orlha made a little noise of confirmation and settled herself on a tree root, pulling him to the ground with her. He crouched near her, to antsy to sit. “He’s in love with me or something.”

“He’s WHAT?” she cried, and burst out laughing. Karsh glared at her, offended, and she quickly stifled her giggles, clapping a hand over her mouth. Closing her eyes, she took a moment to regain her composure, and then waved at him. “Do continue. What makes you think the esteemed Commander Norris is…in love with you?” A little snort escaped her, but Karsh paid it no mind.

“Well, he kissed me didn’t he?” he snapped, rising. He could still feel the soldier’s lips, could still remember how they had been soft and full and yet firm against his own. Not *entirely* unpleasant…and that was what bothered him.

“I don’t know. Did he?” Orlha asked, suddenly serious. Karsh glared at her and began to pace, hoping to walk off some of the agitation he could feel building in his body.

“Yes.” He frowned, brow furrowing. “Would I have said it if he hadn’t?”

“Maybe,” she replied casually. Karsh rounded on her, furious.

“And just what the HELL is that supposed to mean?” he roared. His hands trembled with repressed anger. Orlha stood up, gazing at him coldly.

“I suggest you calm yourself doightight now, cowboy,” she said. Her voice was as cold as the dead of winter, and Karsh’s anger subsided a little. “I was only saying.” They stared at each other a moment longer, then Karsh broke eye contact and resumed pacing. Orlha sat back down, perfectly composed.

“He *did* kiss me,” Karsh growled. “And it wasn’t just a friendly kiss…”

“Are you sure?” Orlha laced her fingers together in front of her, leaning on her knees. Karsh glanced over at her, but there was no teasing er fer face, only a look of extreme inquisitiveness. “Sometimes people kiss each other to show gratitude or appreciation.”

“When you kiss someone out of gratitude, do you give them this…this look? Like your whole world is going to come crashing down on your head if they don’t kiss you back?” He snarled, frustrated, and sat down. “I don’t know how to describe it. Its like…Have you ever needed something so *bad*? I mean, drive you crazy you can’t live without it bad? That’s the look he was givin’ me, I swear.” Orlha was silent, studying his face with a shrewd glint in her violet eyes.

“I believe you,” she said at last. “And yes, I know what you mean.” She sighed heavily and rubbed the back of her neck. “Poor Norris…Well, at least you didn’t encourage him. Did you?” Her gaze suddenly turned fierce and Karsh squirmed uneasily, skewered by her eyes.

“Well…I kinda-“

“You didn’t,” she said, herce lce low and dangerous.

“Yeah,” Karsh admitted, flushing bright red. “I did. I kissed him back.” Orlha rose with a squeal of outrage and kicked him hard in the shins. Karsh remained sitting, cringing like a scolded child.

“You IDIOT! How could you be so *heartless*, Karsh?” He looked up, surprised and confused, and opened his mouth to speak. Orlha shushed him with a glare. “Yes, you heard me. Heartless. He’s in *love* with you, Karsh, and-“

“Hold on,” he interrupted, rising. She clamped her mouth shut stubbornly, a hint of pink appearing in her cheeks. “You said there was no way he was in love with me!”

“I did not,” she replied, eyeing him. “I never said any such thing. I just asked you what made you *think* he was in love with you.” She raised an eyebrow coolly and Karsh, thinking back, had to admit she had a point.

“All right, fine,” he admitted grudgingly. “So you didn’t actually say it. But you implied it! And now you’re telling me, what? He *is* in love with me?” Orlha threw up her hands with a disgusted scream.

“MEN! Of course he’s in love with you, you big oaf! You couldn’t *tell*?” It was Orlha’s turn to pace now, and she did so with such speed that Karsh thought her feet might catch fire. “He gaaaazes at you when he thinks no one is looking! And every time he talks about you, to me anyway, he gets this soppy look on his face…”

“He *talks* about me?” Karsh could hear the incredulous edge in his voice and would have found it laughable if he weren’t so utterly shocked. Orlha rolled her eyes impatiently.

“Ye-es! Earth to Karsh, he’ly bly been like that since he *met* you!” She stopped pacing and frowned at him, hands on her hips. Her foot beat a rapid rhythm on the leaf-covered ground, and Karsh fought to keep from staring at it, if only to avoid her eyes. “You can’t look me in the eye and tell me you never noticed.”

“Well…” He faltered a little, thinking back. “No. I never did.”

“It never even crossed your mind,” Orlha stated flatly.

“No.” He lifted his arms in a defensive shrug. “Not even once.” Orlha shook her head, tongue clucking gently.

“You really are a piece of work, Karsh,” she muttered, a tiny grin creeping back onto her face. “The densest bastard I’ve ever met in all my life.” Karsh, offended, opened his mouth to protest, but Orlha stopped him with an upraised hand. “Wsht! Not another word from you, Mr. Look-at-me-I’m-a-Deva, or I’ll thrash you. Now.” She settled herself on the root again, motioning for him to join her. He did so reluctantly, and sat in sullen silence beside her. “What are you going to do about this?”

He shrugged. He hadn’t really thought about it beyond the “Oh shit” stage yet, and whenever he tried to his mind drew a perfect blank. The easiest thing to do would be to just pretend it never happened. Sure, it might hurt Norris’s feelings a little, but then again, it could also spare them in the long run. He could tell Norris that he didn’t know what had come over him, that he was sorry it had happened. He could kill Norris…

“Kill him?” he offered hopefully. Orlha smacked him in the back of the head and gave him a mock glare. Karsh grinned at her. “Okay, you win. I’ll tell him I’m sorry it happened and that it can’t happen anymore.”

“You sure?” There was a strange edge in Orlha’s voice, and Karsh glanced at her in surprise as he rose.

“What?”

“You sure you want to do that?” She rose as well, dusting off the seat of her skirt and giving him an uncomfortably piercing look.

“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked, strolling out of the woods. Orlha only shrugged.

“Just…think about it, will you? Don’t say anything until you know.” And with that, she walked off in the opposite direction, further into the woods. Karsh watched her go, a baffled expression on his face. ~Now just what in hell did that all mean? Don’t say anything until I know *what*?~

But there was no use pondering it. He had to get back to the hideout and wait for Norris to wake up. The sooner he got this over with, the better. For both of them.