Wilt added another small log to the fire. Beside him Lukas’ steady soft snores had shifted into very contented sighs and hums as he wriggled around and hugged the satchel closer to his chest.
“You must be having a nice dream,” Wilt said with a smile, and the smile grew wider when he considered that Lukas had been dreaming of him while Wilt had dreamt of Lukas. “Is it a dream about me that is causing this?” Wilt murmured as he shuffled closer. But as he peered at Lukas’ flushed, gleeful face it suddenly twisted like he was force to eat something sour. His lips pressed shut and his jaw clenched hard.
“Hope that’s not about me.” Wilt moved closer still and was about to try and wake Lukas up when his arms swung wildly into the air, smacking Wilt in the nose.
Wilt’s eyes began to water, but more concerning at that moment; Lukas was starting to claw at his own neck.
“Hey! Hey, stop!” Wilt tried to pull Lukas’ hand away but couldn’t keep hold of the flailing limbs. “I said stop it.” Wilt growled as he maneuvered to get a better position and straddled Lukas’ chest. He pinned Lukas’ arms to his side with his knees. Lukas yanked and pulled but Wilt just squeezed tighter. When he couldn’t free his arm Lukas’ body started to buck and convulse beneath Wilt while he gasped for breath.
“It’s a bad dream, you need to wake up!” Wilt said firmly and shook his shoulders. Lukas bucked again and almost propelled Wilt into the fire. “Whoa,” Wilt cried and gripped Lukas’ shoulders tighter.
- - -
“I don’t want to die,” Lukas croaked and his eyes snapped open; wild and unfocused. He thrashed a moment longer before he came to, panting heavily.
“Calm down. It’s okay, you’re okay. It was a bad dream but you’re okay now.” Wilt’s voice soothed.
Wilt’s nose was red and there were scratches on his face and arms.
“I’m sorry,” Lukas whispered as tears welled in his eyes. “I thought, I dreamed- the noose. I couldn’t breathe.” He tried to explained but his words were as jumbled as his thoughts.
Wilt lifted his hand and Lukas expected Wilt to strike him for what he had done, but instead he just brushed aside a lock hair stuck to the sweat on his forehead. A long pause followed with neither knowing what to say.
“If I get off you do you promise not to try and break my nose again?” Wilt attempted humour but Lukas just looked horrified. It hadn’t registered that Wilt was straddling his chest until that moment and now Lukas was hyper aware of every shift in pressure or movement.
“I—um?” he instantly tried to sit up as Wilt slid off but only made it a couple inches before a searing pain in his shoulder tore through his body. Lukas’ face went white and he almost fainted from the pain. All that thrashing had not helped his shoulder.
“Shit, what do you need?” Wilt asked, a guilty expression behind his concern.
“Cloth or something I can use to make a sling.” Lukas said through gritted teeth.
“Umm, right.” Wilt stared blankly for moment then grabbed his pack and started yanking out the contents. He’d dug halfway through the pack when he pulled out a long sleeve shirt. “Will this work?”
Lukas nodded and reached out his hand to take the shirt but winced in pain. “I might need some help.”
As carefully as he could manage, and under Lukas’ guidance, Wilt fashioned a workable sling from the shirt.
Lukas sighed with relief as the pressure on his shoulder eased. “I’m sorry about your nose,” Lukas said meekly.
Wilt gingerly touched the injured area and smiled. “You sure can throw one hell of a punch.” Wilt tried to make light of it but Lukas just slumped over in guilt and the mood fell silent and heavy.
“I suppose it will all be worth it once we get the payoff.”
“We get the what?” Wilt paused from repacking his things.
“S-Sorry. I didn’t mean to overstep, I just thought— Well I hoped that since I helped get the book and all that you might share some of the payoff with me. Just enough to get me on my feet, you know.” Lukas spoke so fast that it took Wilt a moment to take it all in.
“Payoff?” Wilt spoke the word slowly. “Oh, ooh. Sorry, there’s been a misunderstanding. There’s no buyer for the book.”
“What? You risked such a dangerous mark without even having a buyer setup beforehand?”
“Well I wasn’t planning to sell it.” Wilt admitted and they both fell silent.
“Wha- Bu- but I thought. I had planned.” Lukas started to hyperventilate. “I’ve got nothing,” he wheezed as if the noose was around his throat again.
“Calm down, you need to breathe.” Wilt said and started exaggerate slow and deep breathing. After Lukas managed a few steady breaths Wilt continued. “I might have a proposition for you.”
“I will not be a thief,” Lukas snapped but quickly soften. “Sorry, but I won’t.”
“No, no. But having an apothecary around that wouldn’t ask difficult questions, like how did you get stabbed this time, could be useful.”
Lukas was interested but a little suspicious, but Wilt seemed undeterred.
“I have a space that could serve as your shop and I’ll provide capital to get you started. I can even provide lodgings and all I ask in return is your expertise.”
Lukas thought long and hard about the proposition, conducting a mental debate about the pros and cons. “It’s a tempting offer,” he said at length. “But I have some conditions.”
Wilt said nothing but quirked an eyebrow.
“Right, well. Firstly your business is your own, but I won’t be directly involved in any illegal activity.”
“Fair,” Wilt said with a nod.
“Secondly I am free to leave with any money I have earned if ever I should choose to end our business agreement.”
Wilt paused a moment. “A minimum of six months,” he counted and Lukas nodded in agreement.
“And lastly,” Lukas took a steadying breath. “If this is going to work it has to stay a professional relationship, strictly professional. N-no funny stuff.” Lukas’ face had gone red but he forced himself to maintain eye contact. Wilt stared back hard with those dark amber eyes and for a moment Lukas thought he would lean in and kiss him like in his dream; even more surprising, and annoying, he kind of hoped that he would despite his declaration.
“If that’s what you want.” Wilt agreed unexpectedly. “Right, well we’ve rested about as long as we can. Are you right to keep going?”
Lukas nodded but struggled to get his bag over his good shoulder. Wilt grabbed the strap and slung it over his own shoulder before grabbing his own pack. Lukas opened his mouth to protest but Wilt was already walking away into the forest.
- - -
They kept walking for the entire day, only stopping briefly to drink and nibble at what little food they had left. The fatigue and hunger left them with little energy to talk but gave Wilt ample time to think.
He had been devising a means to keep Lukas close by after they reached Hendron and it had seemed like a stroke of genius offering him a job and lodgings. A perfect solution; and it was perfect until that last condition. A strictly professional relationship; Wilt could have cried. He had been certain of the chemistry between them, a subject he knew well, and few times he would have sworn that Lukas was flirting with him. It can’t have all been in my head, he questioned himself as he replayed every moment.
Maybe I should have refused the condition and kissed him right there and then. Or maybe I should have kissed him in his room above the apothecary, or when we were in the cave. There were so many chances and now he might never get the chance to kiss him again.
He shook those thoughts from his mind. There was something there, something between them and for whatever reason Lukas was fighting against it.
Wilt had spent a year obsessing over those dreams; he could afford to be patient now that he had actually found him; now that Lukas was by his side.
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