“Jaelaaaaan.” Wylen sulked as they trudged on through the downpour, wet and cold. “Jaelaaaaan.”

The shorter man whipped around. His soaked hair smacked him in the face with the harshness of a whip. Wincing he cursed and brought his hands up to rub the sting away from his eyes as a clap of thunder shook the ground.

Wylen's teeth chattered as he closed the short distance between them. Water ran into his eyes and made it difficult to see.

“We need to stop!”

Jaelan shook his head as the water trickled down his chin.

“You’re crazy if you think we’re going to make it to the river tonight. Hell, it’s probably flooded!” Wylen protested. His cheeks puffed as he blew the dripping water from his mouth. “We can’t swim across it. The current will be too wild! We need to stop and make camp somewhere.”

Jaelan opened his eyes and blinked ferociously to keep the droplets from piercing into his line of sight. “We can’t. We need to keep going! The moon is already half waned! If we stop now, I won’t make it to the mountain in time!”

“If we don’t stop now, you’ll never make it period!” Wylen barked back. He grabbed Jaelan by the shoulders and gave him a good shake. “You’ll die trying to cross that river!”

“I will not!”

“You may have the blood of Gods running through your veins,” Wylen narrowed his eyes. “But you’re still a mortal! You can still die like the rest of us!”

“If you’re so scared, you can stay here!” Jaelan growled and pushed the taller man’s arms away fiercely. “I can go by myself!”

“I am not letting you go to your death!” Wylen growled, unable to believe they were having this argument. “God, you’re crazy! Are you feeling alright? This surely cannot be the Jaelan I know!”

Wylen made a grab for him again.

“Let me go!” Jaelan snarled and breathed laboriously through his gritted teeth. He hit Wylen's arm away from himself and took a step back.

Something inside of Wylen made him suddenly stop short. He turned his full gaze to the stubborn man and strained his eyes to see him more clearly. Jaelan stood there panting in the pouring rain. The water completely soaked through his clothes and turned what was once a navy tunic, black as pitch. He took a tentative step forward, eyes focused on the unnatural flush covering Jaelan’s cheeks.

“Hey…” he shakily reached out a hand with concern. “…Jaelan...hold on for a second.”

Jaelan glared at the approaching limb, ready to strike at it when Wylen spoke again. His tone however, gave him pause in the way it trembled.

“Jae….j-just wait a m-minute…”

He stilled, mouth parted in silent surprise as Wylen cupped his cheeks and tilted his head forward. Lips slowly came down to rest on his forehead. A shiver ran through him like a lightning bolt. He inhaled sharply and grabbed at Wylen's wrists. He needed to pull them away…

“Jaelan,” Wylen's voice sounded in alarm. “You’re hot.”

Blinking like an owl, Jaelan lost the ability of speech as he stared into Wylen's worried eyes. Those handsome, almond eyes…

“Don’t you feel it?”

Even though Wylen was standing but a handful of inches away, Jaelan had trouble hearing him. His eyes were full of the smooth skin, kissed by the sun, and lips pale as the pink petals of a rose.

“Jaelan....”

He smiled to himself, suddenly hot. His mouth dry as the desert as he stood in the tirade of a storm.

“Jaelan!”

Finally hearing his name called, Jaelan broke free from his trance. His lips drew closed as he took a stumbling step back.

“Jae…” Wylen grabbed for the man again. He was more worried now than he was when the stubborn man wanted to challenge a rampaging river. “You’ve got a fever! Don’t you feel hot?”

Suddenly numb, Jaelan shivered. His nose scrunched as the wind threw the torpedoing rain into his face. The drops stung his cheeks like needles made of ivory tusks.

“Jaelan!” Wylen called again and pulled the smaller man flush against his front. “Hey, answer me!”

“I…I don’t feel so great…” Jaelan replied after a minute or so. He swallowed laboriously after finally losing to his weakened body. “…Maybe….m-maybe we should just f-find camp…”

“God, Jae…” Wylen silently cursed under his breath, feeling how the man shivered in his arms. He hugged him tighter to his chest and gazed out into the ridge beyond. He strained his eyes, peering hard into the distance for something that could make do as a shelter to sit out the storm. His gaze landed on a narrow outcropping of rocks a little to the west. With any luck, there would be a small cave they could hide out in until the storm blew over.

“Hey…” he lowered his head, water careening down his nose as he did so. “Hey…Jaelan…I think we can find a cave over there.”

Grunting, Jaelan lifted his head. He batted his lashes and looked to the way Wylen pointed. If he squinted, he could see a stretch of rocks. “Hmm…alright, let’s go.”

Wylen held Jaelan back as the man attempted to pull away. “Hey…you think you can make it? You want me to carry you?”

The young warrior snorted and threw his head back in disbelief. “Hey, look here Wylen. I may not be in the best of shape right now. But hell have at me if I let you lift me like a woman and carry me. I can manage to get there by myself. Probably faster than you can, even with fever!”

Wylen winced as he forgot how easily offended Jaelan got whenever he felt his manhood brought into question. As if to prove his point the smaller man bounded off, hair whipped behind him as he ran through the forage. A string of curses erupted from Wylen's lips as he dashed off behind the stubborn warrior. The image of the man stumbling and falling to an early demise rather vivid in his mind’s eye.

Jaelan leaped over a rift. His boots made a dull thud as he landed on the other side. A grimace graced his face as he felt a bout of dizziness assail him. He stumbled on his feet while his hands reached into the air in an attempt to stabilize himself.

“Oh for the love of mankind!” Wylen growled and jumped over the rift, grabbing hold of Jaelan’s bicep in his iron grasp. Before the man could even begin to voice his protest, Wylen threw him onto his back and grunted at the extra weight.

“Put me down!”

“If you die from stupidly falling over your own two feet,” Wylen grit his teeth as he took a step forward. “I will literally go to the underworld, drag you back by your daunting raven hair, only to kill you personally myself.” 

Jaelan kicked Wylen with the insides of his feet and gnashed his teeth. “Only if I don’t kill you first! I am not a woman! Put me down!”

“So help me God, if you cry another word about being a woman!” Wylen yelled into the woodland. “I know you are a man! I’ve seen it myself! You are the only one comparing yourself to a woman, not I! So quit your whining and let me get us to the cave before your jabbering and tossing gets us both killed!”

Furrowing his eyebrows, Jaelan gave Wylen one last solid kick for good measure before growing silent. In response, the broad-shouldered warrior jostled him. He pulled Jaelan’s legs tighter around his torso and took a step forward.

“You tell no one about this.” Jaelan hissed into Wylen's ear. His arms tightened around his neck like a boa constrictor.

Wylen rolled his eyes. “Who would I tell?”

“No one.”

“You will be the death of me,” Wylen grumbled, jostling his package once more and earning himself a choking hold for his worries.

He spat onto the ground and blinked viciously as he journeyed over the thick trail. His legs finally brought him to the rocky slope he had seen from back East. Wylen let go of Jaelan’s legs, letting the man separate from his back. The quiver fell back into place as he reached for an arrow and his bow.

Jaelan withdrew his sword and bit into his lower lip as they crept across the rocks. His eyes scanned the wall of grey for a cave of some sort. They searched for a good fifteen minutes before Jaelan spotted one. Like a deer he darted towards it, yelling to Wylen as he ran past.

Almost slipping over a slick stone, Wylen cursed. He followed behind the excited man as quickly as he could.

“Here!” Jaelan turned his head back to Wylen in excitement.

Breathing laboriously through his mouth, Wylen grunted as he joined the shorter warrior. He spat water from his lips as he peered into the darkness.

“It would be just our luck if a bear jumped out.” He thought idly and brought his bow up to aim.

Jaelan grunted, sword already raised. “I will go first.”

“Ha!” Wylen quickly cut in front of the smaller man. “Like I would let you! You are sick, Jaelan. Let me take this one, alright?”

“I can fight just fine!”

“I know,” Wylen nudged him with his hip, pushing him away from the entrance. “But my heart will never be at rest if something happens. Alright?”

Jaelan looked up, eyes reflecting with the emotion in his own heart. Idiot…and mine would?

 “Stay here, Jae…” Wylen crept towards the entrance, one foot pressed quietly in front of the other. “Please…for me...just wait here…”