4 - Comfort zone

Carleen's smile widened some more, if that were even possible. "Oh! If my father's designing his suit we're definitely going to work on both pieces to fit together without any of you having to see the other one's before the big day! That's such a great idea! Keep me updated on your wedding plans, alright? I need to know about the date, whether you two come up with a theme, your color palette..." she was just as excited as if they were talking about her own wedding!

A small smile had formed on Sakrish's lips. "I was just thinking- I struggle to find non-walkers* as models. You're a tall, good-looking man. Would you be interested in coming to my studio one day with my son?"

*that's the name we had picked for humans as a species to differenciate them from orcs and so on, so I'm using it there

Aria was just so excited about her wedding and now also by Carleen's own enthusiasm that she just couldn't contain her own beaming smile. "Of course, I'll keep you updated! Me and Dio will definitely be talking some more about it during the winter break, maybe start defining some details - knowing him I can already tell you that it will definitely have something to do with wine, but who knows! OH, would you also design a headpiece? I'd love that-"
Let's be honest, they probably both kept excitedly screaming at each other for the next minues.

Asterius blinked, clearly taken aback. Oh. Oh, alright, he wasn't expecting this. "I'll- I will think about it", he answered then, a bit hesitantly. "I suppose I could try. Why not." His parents had always encouraged him to pick up occasions to make new experiences, when he had the chance to. Then again, he was positive that when Theseus would learn about this he would've pestered him endlessly until he'd say yes. The thought brought a little smile on his lips. Well - it couldn't be too different from posing with some of his teammates for the University's charity calendar, right?

Totally! And since Carleen was going with her sketchbook everywhere they would already be able to sketch out some ideas, and she gave Aria her father's business card with his office number, so that Dionysus could contact him directly.

Sakrish beamed. "Great!" He took out his business card and handed it to Asterius, after scribbling another number on it. "Oh, and don't hesitate to contact me personally next time Theseus hurts himself so badly. That way it won't stress Carleen out and we can sort it out by ourselves- given how close you two seem to be, I suspect you'll be around the next time it happens."

Aria thanked Carleen and happily pocketed the business card - she'd have seen Dionysus that same evening anyway, and even though she would most certainly end up being distracted by him, one way or another, she would have definitely remembered to hand the card to him! "-of course you will definitely be invited, along with your family", she was saying as she finished the coffee that she had ended up ordering. "I would put a veto over your brother, but I kind of owe my whole relationship to him in some. Weird, twisted way."

Asterius took the business card, thanking Sakrish as he put it in the front of his bag. He thought about Theseus' beaming expression when he had asked him if they were boyfriends now, along with his exclamation of but of course Asterius!, and struggled to hold back a grin. "Yes, I have the same suspicion", he answered, turning around a little. "And- well, Theseus definitely seems like someone who ends up hurting himself quite often." He was quite reckless, yeah.

Carleen gave Aria a sorry smile. "I know. Again, don't take it personally. Theseus has always been a dick when it comes to girls, but... I've got the impression he's actually never been into girls in the first place. It'd be difficult to explain. Like, I can tell he genuinely liked you because he's the one who asked you out, but I'm starting to wonder if he's not just. Never been into girls. At all. And is too dumb to realize it."

"You have no idea how many grey hair he's been giving me," Sakrish scoffed, taking out his phone. "I've learned to compose with his recklessness over the years, though." He browsed through his phone a bit, and handed it to Asterius - he had opened an album with only photos of Theseus pausing for him.
Sakrish's designs varied a lot, but although the themes changed, they kept the same aesthetics: bad boys looking classy, and just a little tacky. On some of these pictures Theseus's face looked smooth, but on others he occasionally had bruises on his face, black eyes, his cut lip from a few months back, a band-aid or stitches across his brow. Each time, the look had been thought so that he basically looked like some criminal or henchman, looking both handsome, classy and a little scary in his appearance. On some of them he appeared side-by-side with Dean - Sakrish's other favourite male model - and very rarely did he manage to make his own son look like the 'good guy' out of the two of them.

Aria blinked. "Oh. That would actually make a lot of sense", she mused, still thinking about how aggressive Theseus had been to her just earlier when he had been under the impression that she was... what had he thought, again? That she had been bothering Asterius, maybe? Just for that same aggression to immediately dwindle away as soon as he had learned that she was Asterius' sister. "Maybe he just... has other priorities, you know? I mean, there are people that are just not into romantic relationships at all." She paused. Thought about Asterius again. "... or maybe he's into boys and he just doesn't know. Because he's dumb, like you said."

Asterius browsed those pictures carefully, mindful not to stop for too long on any of them in particular. Not because he didn't want to, but mostly because he figured it would have been rude - or creepy, maybe - to just plainly stare at them. He could definitely see that those had been taken by a professional, on a carefully built set, and with carefully styled clothes.
Theseus was gorgeous, and he couldn't get enough of him for the love of himself.
He only briefly stopped to aknowledge Dean ("Oh, I've seen him - he's a friend of Carleen's, right? In the water polo team.") and paused for a bit on a picture where Theseus' lip was cut. "... oh. I remember that cut. That was my fault", he muttered, embarrassed. "He had challenged me to a wrestling match - hadn't told me to pay attention to his face." Yeah. Theseus had definitely sent him at least that one picture.

Carleen bit on a smile. "Yeah. Dumb, indeed. Because I think there's one boy that he likes. A whole lot. And he's probably not noticed that it's more than friendship this time, especially given how often he stares at pictures of said boy."

Sakrish chuckled. "Oh yes, I've heard the tale. According to Theseus you're the only person he's never won against yet. I didn't get half of the technical aspects of your fights that he's described, but he was obviously really proud of himself, and of you, and I couldn't bring myself to scold him for being so carefree about it."

Aria blinked - and leaned in, eyes wide with barely contained curiosity. "Let's see if I'm thinking about the right name. Who's this boy he would be into." She paused for a second. "... really, he stares at pictures and he still can't realize how he feels? Geesh!"

Asterius smiled. "He's right about being proud of himself - Theseus is the first and only walker I've seriously struggled against in physical combat. And I've really won only few times - the others, we got interrupted by the coach because we were taking too long for our match." He crossed his arms. "He's got a lot of discipline. It's commendable."

"We're talking about my brother," Carleen replied with a grin. "It might be ages before he realizes it. But, hrm. He's been talking about him... a lot, lately. Spends as much time as he can with him." She bit her lower lip. "... I'm thinking about Asterius."

Sakrish couldn't help but chuckle. "He loves sports, doesn't he. I'm glad we've encouraged him down that path, it really seems to make him happy." He shared a few more stories of Theseus with Asterius, until a nurse came towards them to warn them that they were done with Theseus' operation and he would wake up anytime soon. "Wonderful! Why don't you go first, Asterius? I'll go speak with the doctor for a bit."

Aria gasped - and then assumed a victorious expression. "Ah, I knew it", she exclaimed. "I knew it - I bet he was mad at me because he thought I was flirting with Asterius!" She looked pretty satisfied with her reasoning and crossed her arms triumphantly.
She wasn't an expert on romantic intrigues like her brother, but she had seen her fair share of clichéd movies.

Asterius nodded, raising from his chair. "Alright. Thank you." He asked the nurse for the whereabouts of Theseus' room and walked away down the corridor, looking for it. If he happened to find Theseus still asleep, he'd sit down at his side and patiently wait for him to awaken, observing him attentively in the meantime.
Yeah, there was no way they would be able to share a proper kiss with that cast in between them.

Carleen blinked a few times, before she burst out laughing. "Wait- he pulled a jealous fit on you? Oh no Aria I'm so sorry! Knowing him that's definitely why he's been so mean to you- he's quite petty when he's jealous!"

Theseus slowly emerged, and blinked a few times, looking around the room. His face lit up the moment he spotted Asterius. But contrary to usual, he did look quite tired still, because of the anaesthetic "You're still there," he mumbled sleepily.

"Well it's the only reasonable possibility!", Aria nodded at Carleen's words. "I mean, he came up to us, and he looked furious and went like at do you think you're doing you-" She suddenly stopped, a little conscious about saying such a bad word out loud. "It sounded out of place, coming from him."

Asterius smiled gently down at him. "Of course I am", he replied softly, laying a hand on his arm. "I wanted to see you, before going back home. To make sure everything had gone well." He was relieved to see Theseus awake, even if a little sleepy still. He was sure he had never quite seen him so relaxed before. "Your father's outside, he's talking to the doctor."

Carleen brought her hands to her lips. "Wait- I think that means he might be aware of his feelings for your brother. That's a great first! Maybe he's not as dumb as I thought," she added with a chuckle.

Theseus nodded distractedly, and remained sioent for a few seconds. "Would you kiss me, Asterius?" Like his friend had observed, it would be complicated. But they hadn't kissed since Friday night, and he was dying to do it again, now that his nose had a clear bandage around it.

Aria laughed. "Or we are more clever than him and just figured out that your brother had a jealous fit way before your he will aknowledge it himself", she offered with a little grin. It softened, though. "Well. Anyway, if he does feel something for Asterius, I hope he'll become aware of it soon and talk to him about it." She smiled again. "I have a feeling my brother might be interested."

Asterius' gaze softened. He felt himself flush a little at the thought - it was a more or less public setting, after all - but couldn't find it in himself to deny this to either Theseus nor himself. He cleared his throat. "If you keep still", he agreed then with a little nod. "I don't want you to hurt yourself with a sudden movement." He leaned in a little, trying to gauge what angle could be better.
It wasn't easy, between the bandage and his own muzzle and nose ring - but he managed, in the end, and laid a soft, gentle peck on his boyfriend's lips.

Carleen's grin widened. "You don't say? What did Asterius tell you!" She was almost as excited as when they had bee discussing about Aria's wedding dress. Almost. Her friend's wedding was still more exciting, but it was mostly because she wouldn't want any details of Theseus' relationship once he'd have come to terms with his feelings.

Theseus tried to purse his lips to kiss Asterius back, but he had to abandon that motion as soon as he had given it a try, because of his wound. Still, he let out a content sigh through the kiss, and smiled at Asterius when he pulled back. "Blast this wound- I wish I could kiss you for hours."

Aria's grin could definitely rival Carleen's now as she leaned towards her conspiratorially. "Well. Just before your brother came to interrupt us, actually, Asterius was telling me just how frustrating it is to feel in a certain way towards your best friend and not being sure whether or not it's a good idea to talk to him about it. Not much more than that, though - Asterius isn't really one who talks with too many words."

Asterius held back a little smirk. "Curse it for hindering our love", he joked lightly, before adding - a little more softly - "I promise I'll let you kiss me all you want, for as long as you want, when you'll be healed." He reached out for his hand to hold it, and leaned in to leave another little peck on his forehead.

Carleen took in a sharp, excited breath. "Oh! So if Thee's too dumb to realize his feelings, do you think that Asterius is going to take the first step?" Oh, wow. She couldn't wait to see this unravel!

Theseus held Asterius' hand, and sighed softly. He definitely wouldn't move to drop Asterius' hand when he heard Sakrish coming closer, nor when the door to his room opened. I'll let you decide what Asterius would do before going on!

Aria chuckled. "I don't know. Asterius is very patient - he's usually on the receiving side of a confession, more than on the giving." He probably didn't want to be out of place - or maybe he just didn't like the thought of being rejected. "Maybe on the long run, if Theseus keeps on being willfully dumb, he'll get tired and take the reins. It depends on how dumb dumb your brother is." She raised an eyebrow. "Would he be very touchy-feely and keep calling him his best friend?" In that case, her brother's patience would wear thinner much faster.

Asterius squeezed Theseus' hand gently, but let go of it when he heard the door opening. More to turn around and see who it was than because he wanted to hide anything, let's be honest - he hadn't been exactly in a rush to get away from his boyfriend.

"I'm afraid Thee is already touching Asterius a whole lot. Hell, I know it doesn't mean much to these two but I know they shower together, and Thee got excited about your brother allowing him to tend to his horns." She let out a chuckle. "Oh gosh they're basically married."

Theseus frowned lightly at the loss, but he relaxed when he saw his father. "Hi dad," he told him with a wide grin.
"Hello Thee", Sakrish said with a smile, coming closer. He chatted a bit with his son about little nothings, making sure he was okay. "I was thinking about bringing you home - there's not much you could do before recess in your state, anyway."

Theseus frowned, and looked over at Asterius. "I don't know... I thought I could cheer Asterius on during his practice, if I can't play myself."

Aria let out an 'aw!' sound, resting her elbows on the table. "That's... kind of cute", she admitted. "Asterius hasn't had someone tending to his horns since he hit puberty. Sure, sometimes mom or dad would ask him if he needed help, but I think he didn't want to bother them. If he's allowing Theseus to help out, it means that he feels very close to him." She grinned. "They are very basically married."

Asterius tilted his head. "I think it would be best for you to go home, at least for today", he observed gently. "I don't know much about anesthesia, but it looks like it's still wearing off. You look exhausted. Some rest would be good for you, I'm sure."

Carleen chuckled. "Wanna bet on how long it'll take them to end up together, or that wouldn't be reasonable?" She was still grinning. Oh, if she could have a little fun at Theseus's expense for once!

Theseus frowned some more "But I didn't get to spend much time with you because of our exams." His face suddenly lit up, though."Or- would you come to visit me?" Asked he, forgetting that Christmas was a thing in other families.

Aria grinned. "Reasonable? Please! What are we, their moms or their sisters?" She thought about it a little bit. "I want to believe that they will end up together before Christmas comes around. If anything, at least for Asterius' own good, because if Theseus is really that touchy with him he's going to burst soon."

Asterius pressed his lips into a thin line. "I'm... I was actually planning to go back at my parents' for a week. For Christmas, you know", he answered, his heart breaking a little bit thinking that he'd let Theseus down. "But - I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you wanted to come over. Their place is large enough, and my mom likes having people around." He had the feeling that Horknath would maybe try to invite Carleen anyway.

Carleen chuckled and nodded. "Alright. I'll investigate and keep you updated. Anyway, Thee was so desperate to be away from your brother this past month, I bet he's going to try and visit your place during the holidays."

"Oh, I'd love to come!" Theseus beamed. "Just tell me when and where, and I'll be coming! Should I bring gifts? How does these Christian traditions work with outsiders?"
Sakrish scoffed. Outsiders. If his mother had heard that.

Aria scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, and I'm sure Asterius will never say no to him if he asks. I'll get Dio to come over too anyway - we want to tell the good news to our families together." She couldn't wait to see her parents' faces! She assumed a cheekier expression and grinned. "I'm sure Horknath will definitely try to ask you if you feel like coming over, too~"

Asterius chuckled. "Well - my family isn't exactly Christian. My mom has that kind of background, but she isn't religious. We just like the atmosphere, you know, friends and family getting together to have some laughs and eat something. And gifts aren't mandatory, if you feel like getting something for someone you are close to, you can do that - but my parents won't surely expect you to come over with something for them." Though if Ariadne the Great (that was how they all called her in the house to distinguish her from Ariadne the Small before coming up with 'Aria') learned that someone else was coming, and that it was someone so close to her babies, she would probably try her best to knit them one of her famous ugly Christmas sweaters. He tilted his head. "What do you mean for outsider?"

Carleen felt herself flush at the thought, and smiled shyly at Aria. "I'd be happy to meet your family, if he asks me to come over. I'll have to warn you though- Thee still doesn't know about us. I'm looking for the right time to bring the news to him, especially after what happened with Brad." Yeah, Brad. That guy Dean saved her from barely a year ago. The guy that got Theseus sent to custody for breaking his ribs when he had learnt the news.

Sakrish chuckled. "Theseus just means we're not Christians ourselves. We're Hindus- although we don't respect the rules too strictly unless we're visiting our families in India."
Theseus nodded. "I've only celebrated Christmas once a few years ago, but I had poor indications of what was expected of me." He frowned. "Needless to say I've spent it with rude individuals and it was rather unpleasant."