Mindless Chatter

Marcus set his bundle carefully on the table. “We have brought back the Hispana’s lost Eagle,” he said, rather mussily, and very quietly crumpled forward on top of it.

Alarm flared in Esca’s chest as he wrapped his arm around Marcus to keep him from falling completely onto the floor.

“Is there a spare room we can put him in?” He asked the fort’s centurion, Drusillus, grateful that at least this was someone Marcus knew. The centurion nodded, his eyes a little wide, and helped him carry Marcus to a private room reserved for important visitors.

“Is there anything you need?” Drusillus asked. “I can have a slave come in and see to him—”

“No!” Esca said, perhaps a little too loudly. He continued more quietly, “No, it is in my heart that I should tend to him myself.” With all they’d been through together, and all they’d become to each other on this journey—companions, and shield-brothers, and eventually lovers—it only seemed right that it should be Esca to tend to him now.

Drusillus nodded. “Come and tell me if you need anything at all.”

“Thank you,” Esca said gravely, and the man gave him a nod and turned to leave. For now, Esca thought, the best thing for Marcus, for both of them, was to sleep, and so he curled up beside Marcus on the room’s single, large bed, determined not to leave his side, and drew the blankets up over their shoulders. They both needed a bath urgently, but Esca didn’t give it any thought as he curled on his side and wrapped an arm over Marcus’s chest, pressing his nose into the hair behind Marcus’s ear. He fell asleep almost instantly.

***

He woke several hours later, and Marcus was still asleep, turned onto his side and facing Esca, his face pressed into Esca’s chest. A strand of Marcus’s black hair fell across his eyes and Esca brushed it back carefully, caressing Marcus’s face just a little. With the trials of their long journey, he’d lost most of the padding of flesh he’d had in Calleva and had become very thin, so much that the bones of his face stood out almost alarmingly.

As if he could feel Esca’s eyes on him, Marcus came awake, slowly. He buried his face even further against Esca’s chest, groaning softly, then opened his eyes and looked up at Esca, blinking a few times. Up close, Marcus’s eyes were stunning, impossibly dark brown and flecked with gold, though now they only looked hazy.

“Esca,” he murmured, then coughed, his throat too dry for much talking. Esca glanced around the small room and saw a cup of water on the table nearby that must have been left while they were sleeping. He slipped out from under the blankets for a second to grab it and take a few sips himself before returning to the bed and helping Marcus sit up and drink some, too. He buried his face against Esca’s shoulder when he was done, and Esca kissed his hair, his chest feeling full.

“Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Esca.” Marcus’s voice still sounded very rough, and Esca held the cup to his lips again so he could drink more. He did, then leaned in to give Esca a proper kiss on the lips, and though it tasted more of dirt and sweat than anything, and Marcus’s lips were very chapped and tender, Esca still enjoyed it immensely.

“I’m glad you don’t have to find out,” Esca said when they broke apart, and Marcus gave him a real, genuine smile.

“So am I, Esca…”

They were quiet a moment, Esca stroking Marcus’s hair gently and Marcus leaning into his hand. Sunlight was coming into the room’s single window now, golden and glorious, and it made Esca feel energized and content. It looked like the start of a day that he would’ve spent out hunting with Marcus if they were in Calleva, or just spent outside doing anything. He wanted to go back to that life again, suddenly and sharply, and found himself looking forward to crossing the Wall eagerly.

“Shall I find some food for us?” Esca asked, noticing how hungry he was for the first time.

“I can get up,” Marcus tried to protest, but as soon as he tried to swing his legs over the side of the bed, he gave a choking gasp, his face tight with the pain.

“No, no, stay here,” Esca beseeched. “I’ll find food and bring it back here, and then we can have a bath and change our clothes.” Something in his face seemed to convince Marcus, because he lay down again and nodded, his face apologetic. “Alright. Perhaps standing isn’t such a good idea yet,” his lips quirked into a hint of a smile, but one that still reached his eyes. Esca kissed him again, deeply, before finding centurion Drusillus and asking where he could get food. The other man told him, then asked, “Aquila is awake now?”

“Yes, he is,” Esca said, somewhat amused that he still addressed Marcus as his superior. Drusillus went in to talk to Marcus, and Esca went to the dining hall. He wasn’t gone long, and when he returned, he and Marcus sat in the bed and shared the food, talking quietly as the room became even brighter with sunlight. They bathed and were given clean clothes, and then Marcus slept through most of the afternoon, still exhausted and needing rest, and Esca stayed with him, stroking his hair. They could afford to stay here a few days, Esca thought; they both needed the respite, and Esca was more than glad to be able to wake up next to Marcus clean, safe, warm, and in a real bed.