#wolthanuri

It was rare to have a moment of quiet on the First, much less a moment when the two could be alone together, but Thancred and Urianger had managed to find one such moment this evening. Relaxing on the sofa that Thancred had insisted be installed in the Bookman’s Shelves, while sipping some spirit that had been carefully distinguished from the alchemy supplies around it, the pair relaxed in each other’s company.

Thancred pulled his feet up onto the sofa and leaned against his partner while he tried to figure out how to approach a potentially sticky topic that nonetheless needed addressing. With the Warrior of Light having made it to this reflection, his old relationship with her risked coming into conflict with his newer relationship with Urianger—not that it was even new to them by now. And that is if what he had with Rinh could even have been called a relationship; “arrangement” might be a more apt term, or “occasional rendezvous.” Either way, what had been weeks for her had been years for them, and there was certain to be some sort of discomfort somewhere in the mix.

“So, about Rinh,” he tested. No sudden tension in the fingers that casually brushed against his arm, no increased heart rate...that was good. Just a glance up from his book. He continued, “I’ll go ahead and break it off with her when I see her next.”

Urianger’s head tilted toward him questioningly. “Wherefore?”

“Well, I rather thought I was taken,” he said.

A smile curved onto Urianger’s lips. “Such possessiveness thou dost project upon me. Be it thy heart’s will in truth that your relationship end?”

“It’s not like we had anything serious going on,” Thancred replied with practiced nonchalance. “Makes no difference to me one way or another.”

A lie. A lie he’d even convinced himself of until recently, but a lie nonetheless. Their arrangement had been one between friends—just friends who occasionally spent the night together. The fact that he’d developed feelings for her at some point was entirely out of line, in his opinion, and given his certainty that she did not feel the same, it was never worth bringing up. So he had lied to himself until it became his truth. It was only when he saw Rinh again after several years of neglecting to maintain that lie that it came crashing down around him.

But that was his own problem. Not Rinh’s, and certainly not Urianger’s. He was very happy with Urianger, and he had no desire to ruin that with errant unreciprocated feelings for an old fling.

Of course, Urianger saw right through him. He placed a bookmark in his book and set it on the side table, then turned to face Thancred better with a soft but knowing smile. Thancred groaned inwardly.

“Thou needst not withhold the truth from me, my dearest. Thy heart knoweth what it doth want. The way thou dost behold her, ‘tis not mere lust in thine eyes. Nor is it mere lust with which she beholdeth thee, ere thou counter.”

With that last part, Urianger succeeded in fizzling out any argument Thancred might have made. Finding himself oddly disarmed, he took a careful sip of his drink to fill the gap.

“You really think so?” he finally asked in a small voice. Then, remembering himself, he added, “Not that it would matter! I have you.”

“And I am not a jealous person,” Urianger said gently. “Mayhap she would be interested in joining our relationship, shouldst thou be amenable to the idea.”

Well, this conversation was going in directions that Thancred absolutely did not expect.

“Do you even like her that way?” he asked.

“I bear a certain affection for her, undoubtedly,” Urianger said. “In truth, I know not whether my feelings for her would be aptly described as romantic, but should it not work out, then I would be glad to simply call her my metamour.” He reached a hand out and stroked Thancred’s cheek in the way he loved. “Pray do not let me stand in the way of thy happiness.”

Thancred took the hand and brushed his lips against it. “Please don’t think I’m not happy with you.”

“Fear not; I harbor no doubts. I see the love in thine eyes for me as well. Nevertheless, if thou couldst find yet more happiness by sharing thy love with another, then ‘twould bring me great joy to see thee have it.”

Thancred thought about it for a long moment, rotating his glass in his free hand. He had never dared assume that Rinh might harbor feelings for him as he did for her, and he was supposed to be perceptive. Why hadn’t she said anything? Not that he could claim any high ground in that regard. He supposed it was easy to use the intimacy of sex as a mask to obscure other forms of intimate knowledge too vulnerable to explore. They may have known each other’s bodies inside and out, but evidently they did not know each other’s hearts.

And speaking of vulnerability, he'd had quite enough for one night. He gave his partner's hand another quick kiss, but offered no more in the way of heartfelt thanks.