It was two days after the incident, and Corym couldn't stop thinking about Milo. The idiot was clearly hiding from him, keeping them trapped in a constant game of hide and seek. 

He would have thought that having the guts to finally take a step with his crush and inviting him to his party would make things easier for him. To figure out how he really felt. Hah. 

Maybe he was the idiot. 

Corym rarely had crushes. Even then, after spending even a few hours with whoever was concerned, they grew, unfortunately, uninteresting. But Milo caught hold of his mind and refused to let go, for months now. The way he recoiled that morning - it wasn’t disgust, he was sure. No, it was fear. He wasn’t like the others - he needed to be patient with him. And Corym was absolutely willing to take his time if it meant getting closer to him. 

Besides, that kiss destroyed him in the best way. It was enough to make his head spin, but stars it wasn’t enough. 

It was late afternoon when he knocked on Milo's door, once, twice. Nothing. He started pacing up and down the hallway. Other students looked at him with raised eyebrows as he kept going back to Milo's door to knock. Fourth time lucky, the door opened, and Corym felt a trace of butterflies in his stomach upon seeing him. He smiled at Milo's instant blush, and at the small gust of wind Milo caused, as he accidentally caused when he was nervous.

"Hi. Finally, Hi..." 

He had to hold himself back from immediately pulling Milos face to his, to kiss until they were both dizzy.

"Hi... Hey, Corym, about the other night, I'm so sorry I -" 

"No. Okay, first, please stop apologizing. Milo, I've grown good at rejecting people, there's no being sorry here, okay? If you were out of bounds I would have made it abundantly clear." Corym said with a grin, reaching out to Milo's arm, who immediately tensed. 

"I-... why are you here?" 

“Well since you ask, I decided to laugh in the face of society and take a chance.” Corym took a step back and smiled, before bowing at the waist before Milo, extending a hand. "Will you do me the honor of joining me this fine evening, my liege?" He said, exaggerating a posh accent in hopes it would make Milo smile. 

It was surreal, the joy he felt when he saw that grin. 

Stars, when had he become this hopeless? 

With Milo's hand in his, Corym led him to an abandoned part of the Eviran Watch. The wall that closed the city off from the rest of the world was tall, with a dozen towers keeping watch over the lands around it. When he was young, he had found a sub-balcony in one of the towers close to the university; a small wooden observation deck, abandoned since the war was last threatening the Holn borders. The deck overlooked the outside of the city and had a view that reached to the hills to the west, and all of the fields of flowers in between. Now, higher towers served the same purpose. 

This place was made of broken stone and competely secluded. Corym had decorated it with a few dancing lights that floated through the pleasant autumn breeze. The floor was littered with some pillows and a small mountain of snacks and drinks. It was easy to forget the smoke rising into the red sky from a faraway battle.

"Not that this isn't beautiful and flattering and all... but why did you bring me here?" Asked Milo, taking a seat on one of the pillows and reaching for a sweet roll. They had always been a guilty pleasure of his. Corym had no regrets spending the little coin he had on them.

"I thought a genius like you might recognize a date when he saw it," joked Corym with a wink, handing a glass of wine to Milo, who seemed flustered into silence. 

“I- you still never asked,” Milo muttered, clearly holding back a smile.

He was so adorable, it was truly unfair. 

"Would you have said no?"

"... no..."

Corym chuckled and tapped his wine glass against Milos' before taking a sip.

"There's... ah. Another reason I brought you here" started Corym, taking a seat next to him. "Two nights ago, when I found you screaming from those nightmares... you just started speaking, and told me so much about those dreams that plague your nights. You made yourself vulnerable. To me, of all people. You showed me the darkest part of yourself, I think. And since that night, I've been obsessed by the things you've told me, and the want to tell you my own story. My own nightmare. If you will hear me." 

Milo nodded silently, allowing him to continue. 

"OK, here it goes. I know there's a lot of rumors about me and my family going around the school and, well, a large part of the city. You probably heard them? I mean I heard some about your family, so I can only assume… Anyway, the last person I had the displeasure of joining on a date thought I was an orphan, a professor asked me if my parents were ‘still in jail'... I hear the whispers in a hall calling me a bastard, a murderer, an accident. None of it is fully true, Milo." He took a breath, and finished his glass of wine, maybe too quickly. 

The buzz helped. 

"I- you know my type. I'm half-drow, half changeling. People in this city already don’t like us. They say changelings aren't trustworthy because they can change appearance, and that the drow are plotting against humans. You might have heard of some of the battles about 18 years ago, out to the west." Corym pointed out over the balcony. "I ran through one of them. I was only eight, so some things are blurry. But I remember the pretentious cockiness of those who came to our city underground and made us leave, so they could use our home to hide. Humans and elves alike, making us leave our homes because they had the right to hide. Like they forgot we had a right to live there, in the underground..."

"I remember my mother and I running and hiding through the battlefield as we were trying to find a safe way out. I remember my father being oddly quiet that day. I remember the chains around my wrists - mine and my family's - of those on the other side of the battle, thinking we were enemy spies. I remember the prison dinners and the cold stone floors and the metal bars they kept us behind. I remember my father being interrogated, and hurt. It- it was in front of us." 

"Corym, I-" 

Corym held up a hand. "I need to finish this," He took a shaky breath.

"They never trusted us Drowfolk. Very few do even now. I’m still not sure why. Until one day, months later, an elven woman clad in silver armor freed us. She freed all those who escaped from Moreminei, and we were brought to an estate, where we were interrogated once, peacefully. She uhm, gave me this, apparently I kept staring at it," he lifted an arm, showing a simple silver bracelet on his wrist. "I can't remember her name, just that she was important. Unfortunately... the prison was right about one thing. My dad was holding secrets... he- he's still in jail. After that, the rest of our names were cleared, and we were given a small house in the Outer ring of the ciy. Mom and I have been actually quite happy there and still go visit my dad sometimes." 

"I dream of that time of my life often. It's mostly a mess of emotions and sensations, but they always come back. That's also why I'm spending as much time as I can learning to use my sword. To learn to fight. I see a new war coming closer, Milo. Many healers are missing, people in Outer are getting sick and restless. I need to be ready to fight, for others, for my kind, and for myself." Corym looked out towards the red horizon and flinched at the sound of an explosion in the distance. "We're all shattered, Mi, but sharing our stories heals us, one fragment at a time." 

He waited in silence for a moment, letting his story sink in around them. 

"Mi?" 

Corym chuckled. "I was trying something out." 

He was surprised by what happened next. Milo had shifted over to his side, adjusted some pillows to stay comfortable, and took Coryms hand in his. The wind almost seemed to wrap around them protectively. Corym smiled and laced his fingers through Milo’s, thankful that his violet complexion didn't allow his blush to stand out. 

"I'm here for you, okay? I just- wait, you're blushing, are you OK?" 

He swore, laughing. "So are you". 

"I- yes I tend to, ah, be rather prone to that. I can't believe what happened to you, you were so young..."

Corym shrugged. "It's in the past. It was just nice to tell someone about it. I'm glad you know."

"Just because it's in the past doesn't mean that it doesn't matter, Corym. Skies, people have no idea what the drow have been through..."

Milo stayed silent a moment, looking out to the red sky. Corym stroked the back of his hand with his thumb. "Should I not have told you?"

"No, no I'm very glad you did. It puts so much into perspective."

"Don't your glasses do that for you?" Corym teased, taking them off Milos face and onto his own. "Oh Sun and Stars Milo how strong are these?!" he removed them almost immediately, rubbing his eyes.


Milo laughed fumbled as he tried to find them to put them back on. "Very, you shouldn't have done that, you're going to get a headache!"


Corym took a sweet roll and shrugged. "I'm doing many things tonight I shouldn't, it seems. Telling you my story, wearing your glasses, drinking cheap wine, asking you out. Might as well get all the dumb stuff done in a handfull of hours, right?"

He felt Milo's gaze on him then. "Corym, I won’t lie, I’m terrified of what this outing may mean. Don’t get me wrong, I’m having a wonderful evening… It’s just, I wish it wasn’t so complicated." 

“Complicated?” 

“You know, our family lines”.

Corym sighed and kissed his cheek, twice, before resting his head on Milo's shoulder. “Maybe it doesn’t need to mean anything yet. We can just, you know, see how tonight goes and figure out where to go from here. Right now, we’re just two guys on a date.”

As Milo became less nervous, the wind died down and they sat there together in silence, watching the sunset turn the sky from red to a stunning violet to a dark blue. Slowly, they both inched closer over time, until Milo was holding Corym in front of him as he leaned back on a broken pillar. Only once the first stars came out did Milo speak. 

"I won't tell anyone your story. I promise. And..." 

"And?" 

Milo shook his head. "I um-" 

Corym saw something shift in his eyes then. They went from their usual enchanting gold and silver to a dark, bloody red. He watched as Milo shook his head in frustration. The change vanished as quickly as it appeared. 

It may have been a trick of the light. 

Instead of focusing on it, Corym smirked, running his fingers on the tattoos on Milos forearms.. "Let me guess. And... I'm lucky that the guy I may be dating is good with nightmares?" 

Corym burst out laughing at Milo's immediate dark blush and tiny nod that followed. He groaned and hid his face in Coryms shoulder, making the wind dance around them. Milo kept losing control of his ability around him.

Yet another adorable trait. He wasn't used to feeling his heart race during such interactions. 

Well damn, he was in trouble. 

Corym chuckled “You didn’t deny you’re the guy I may soon be dating.” he commented with a smirk. 

Milo looked to the side. “Despite my studies, I don’t know if I can read into the future quite yet. Besides, we just established we should take it slow. We need to be careful, Corym, I don’t want to risk some Keeper seeing us and reporting to my grandfather.”

"A secret relationship, you say?” he teased. “I'll still bet on us though, however selfishly." Corym stood up, pulling Milo up to his feet with him. "Thank you for listening, Mi," he whispered. “Do you mind if I take another chance?” He asked, looking up at him with a smile, pushing a strand of Milo’s hair away from his face, hoping he was making his intentions clear.

Milo shook his head as a smile bloomed across his face, a deep blush settling on his cheeks. “No- not at all - I mean go ahead - please - You know what I mean, right?” 

“Saying ‘please’, stars you’re cute,” Corym chided, before pulling Milo’s face down to kiss him. 

Finally. 

He made sure to be soft and careful, and was entirely surprised when Milo stepped closer to deepen the kiss, if only a little, bringing his own hands to Coryms jaw invitingly. Corym smiled into it, pushing up on his toes slightly, finally indulging in the kind of kiss he’d been dreaming about sharing with Milo.

Yeah, he was absolutely in trouble. The guy tasted sweet as honey, for crying out loud. He was intoxicating, really, and so, so gentle.

When he drew away, he couldn’t help but laugh at Milo’s nervous state. “Are you okay?”

Milo nodded, taking a moment to find his words. “I- Yes, very yes very much. That was - sun and its stars.” 

Corym smiled and stretched up to kiss his cheek. That was also something he liked to do, he realized. "Now, no need to apologize for doing that on Monday anymore, by the way, we're even." 

“Oh I did not do that on Monday. Not even sure I could.”  Milo attested with a nervous laugh. 

Corym was having too much fun making Milo a blushing mess. “Well, you just did. But no matter who did what, I hope this wasn’t the last time". 

But instead of stretching up for another kiss, all Corym did was reach to stroke Milo's cheek. He didn't want to break him entirely. And besides, he would be lying if he said his own heart wasn't beating a little too fast. He had wanted this, just this, for months. 

His hand fit nicely in Milo's as they walked back to their respective room, and their giggles resonated in the empty hallway as Milo leaned down to kiss Corym goodnight, making him feel like the stars were finally in reach.