Celebrimbor Helyanwë (suntdracones) wrote in st_margarets, @ 2014-04-22 10:30:00 |
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Entry tags: | character: ashton hartley, character: trent kane, location: the library |
Log: Reconnaissance
WHO: Trent Kane and Ashton Hartley
WHEN: Thursday 17th [backdated]
WHERE: Library
For half an hour between classes, Ashton had a window where he could either sit in Ms. Menides’ office or go to the library to pick up books for his homework or leisure reading when he returned to the dungeons later that afternoon. He didn’t talk to anyone unless they spoke to him, not wanting to give any cause for his detention to be lengthened any more. The visit by Blake had rattled him and he had been on his best behavior since then. Most of his time alone he spent in thought, either yearning for his gold or hating his need for it. The golden metal had a grip on him he couldn’t shake, and he craved it like a junkie. The one thing that kept him from breaking his detention to fly out and check on his hoard was the promise given by Ms. Menides that she was taking care of it, watching over it, and Ashton knew she wouldn’t touch it.
He didn’t fool himself into thinking they would let him see Trent again, even if he dared go against Annabelle’s command.
So Ashton kept his thoughts occupied, missing the comfort that a hundred years blanketed in gold had given him when he was in pain. For a dragon who was mighty and proud, dangerous, the black was heartsore missing both his gold and his friends. Trent would know what to say, his philosophy would know how to cover this. But Ashton didn’t think Trent’s outlook on life accounted for the instincts of a real dragon, especially not one who was particularly unwell, ill even, with his lust and addiction for gold.
The library at this time of day was occupied by several students as they stocked up for their homework and studied in the quiet atmosphere. Ashton was walking down a row of books, reading the spines and searching for the one his teacher had recommended he get. He wasn’t looking at the other students, having no interest in them as he pulled the book from its shelf and flipped open the cover, leaning against the upright as he read the introduction page.
---
Trent wasn't entirely sure what it was that had finally convinced the nurse to take pity on him to implement some magical healing which meant he was no longer confined to his bed in the infirmary like some sort of zoo animal, but he was glad for it. Maybe it was because ever since he'd shifted the head pain he'd been pestering the nurse, that spark of life returning to him? Trent was convinced had he not been so fragile the nurse might have wanted to strangle him himself.
Sure he wasn't one hundred percent, but he was better, his ankle no longer required crutches and the worst of the bruising was faded. As such Trent was out of the infirmary as soon as he was able, grabbing a hot shower and throwing on some comfortable clothes along with boots instead of trainers, figuring the more support he had the better.
And now he was better there was somebody he wanted to seek out: Ashton.
They had things to discuss and air to clear, Trent had things to say and he figured it was better to be direct. He wouldn't be Trent if he wasn't. He was all about taking charge and not letting life rule you, even if he still wasn't confident about being alone with Ashton. Rationally he knew it was different given what had happened and the fact there was no gold to speak of, but irrationally? Still very unsure.
The southerner had managed to track the dragon down to the library, which was thankfully full of people, and he figured he could probably ambush Ashton there quite successfully. Trent ignored the looks as he entered the library, feeling unusually self conscious as he knew they were talking about him from the hushed tones and the stolen looks. He ducked his head down and used his dark hair to hide his expression before he rounded on a nearby stack of bookcases and sure enough there was Ashton.
Trent swallowed, hands flexing, before he cleared his throat.
---
Ashton, much like he had when Annabelle had snuck down to the dungeons that first awful night he'd been down there, smelled Trent's approach before he saw him. He looked up, too late to duck out without being seen, because there was the human when he turned around, standing in the aisle and blocking his escape.
Ashton's head came up as he turned, his mouth opening as though to say something, but then snapping shut. Green eyes raked over Trent's form, inspecting him and finding he was standing on his own power with no blood pouring from his hair. There was life in his skin, which had been as ash colored as the volcanic plumes that Ashton had lived beside in his earlier years, and the human's eyes were alive once more. It made Ashton's expression look hopeful for a moment, a brief glimmer of desire for everything else about Trent to be okay, too. For them to be okay. He was glad to see him, eager to touch him and ensure he was really alright. But Ashton's expression fell in what was almost a flinch and he looked down and away.
The human who had been his mate not all that long ago now felt far away and distant, changed somehow, even if he looked and smelled like the boy the dragon had grown attached to. Ashton knew Annabelle would be angry at him for being here, even if it was Trent who had been the one to approach him, and he closed the book, tucking it under his arm and edging to move past Trent to escape before the boy could tell him they were no longer friends. Ashton didn't want to hear the words, much less accept them.
---
Trent in the past would have reached out with his hand and made Ashton stop with an encouraging press of palm and fingers, but this time he engaged a slight amount of telekinesis, meaning Ashton couldn’t make a hurried escape as he clearly intended. Once he was certain he’d covered the route of escape Trent moved into the gap and levelled Ashton with his now brighter blue eyes.
“We need to talk,” he murmured lowly as to keep their discussion quiet.
But now they were surrounded by people Trent became conscious of the fact that everybody would be able to hear their conversation and it wasn’t settling well with the southerner who was known for his love of privacy.
---
When he was stopped by the invisible touch, Ashton growled low in his throat, but still didn't look at Trent again. He pushed again to get past, but it was no use. Not unless he wanted to make a scene, and that would run the risk of extending his detention time even further. Besides, he did want to talk to Trent. If he couldn't escape, at least he could say it wasn't because he didn't try.
Hands tight on his book, Ashton let out a slow breath, glancing at the other students who were chatting nearby, giving them sidelong looks, as it was well known that Trent had been hurt and that Ashton had been absent except for classes. Rumors abounded but Ashton paid them no mind.
"What." He finally said, eyes shifting to Trent.
---
Trent didn’t quite know what to make of Ashton’s behaviour because as it stood it felt very much like he was somehow in the wrong and the one attempting to make things right, but that definitely wasn’t the case. Not in this instance anyways. In other any situation then Trent would probably be the one apologising, but not this time.
“What happened,” Trent began. “It-” He realised people were still staring and the telekinetic rolled his eyes, moving in the direction of a small side room, which would allow for privacy but would also mean they weren’t too far away from people so it wasn’t like they were alone.
He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the wall, hoping that without the sidelong looks and hushed voices then he might be able to say what it was he wanted to say whatever the hell that was.
He’d figure it out on the fly as he always did.
---
Ashton reluctantly followed, wanting very much to talk to Trent, but afraid of what the other boy would say. It had hurt for Anna to leave him and he was not looking forward to Trent doing the same, as though he had any right in trying to get him to stay after almost killing him. Ashton had done a lot of thinking in the almost two weeks he'd been locked away. He knew he was at fault and he also knew better than anyone that it could happen again. It wasn't something he could control. Not yet anyway, with how deeply his addiction and reliance on his gold went. This incident and the fallout that came because of it had definitely cemented that need all the more firmly in his mind.
Ducking behind a wall so that he was out of the line of sight of the other students, Ashton leaned against it in a copy of Trent's posture, but had his arms crossed over his chest in an obviously closed off gesture. However, when he looked at him again, there was a longing there in his eyes and a tired sort of sadness before he looked down once more.
"You are healed." He commented flatly, eyes on the floor. "That's good."
---
“Nurse does good work,” Trent offered, feeling the tension that sat between them rather keenly and he was convinced had he a knife he’d be able to cut it in half. Gone was the relaxed casual comfortable vibe they’d cultivated over God only knows how many months. He ignored the twisting in his gut when Ashton looked at him with that look in his eyes and bit down on the reassuring comment which desperately wanted to escape, knowing that this wasn’t the time or the place, especially after what had happened.
The southerner pushed a breath out of his very tight chest. “You- You almost killed me, Ashton. Over gold. Gold that I have no interest in. Told you that once before an’ nothin’ changed.” He stole a look at the dragon. “I ain’t no thief.” And to him that was the most wounding thing, not the fact Ashton had flung him into a wall like a ragdoll, but the fact that his friend somebody he’d let very close had thought him capable of committing an act of betrayal like that. Trust, it was important, couldn’t have anything without it and Ashton doing what he did had just proven to Trent just how much the dragon didn’t really trust him.
He raked his fingers through his hair and then tipped his head back against the wall, blue eyes focusing on an exact point of the ceiling. It was clear Trent was struggling, from the way his throat moved with a swallow and how he shifted his weight on the balls of his feet.
---
Ashton knew the facts, but hearing it come from Trent that he'd almost killed him was somehow worse, like he was experiencing it again and he recoiled a bit, looking up at the human as he continued. He wanted to explain that he knew Trent wasn't a thief, that he wouldn't have brought him to his lair to be so close to his gold if he believed otherwise. But the evidence to the contrary was stacking up and Ashton had no real explanation except one.
"I know. I know you're not a thief." He watched the human on the other side of the room, feeling like he was losing him even more, like it was just a matter of time before Trent himself forbade him from coming near him again and then walked away like Annabelle had done. Ashton knew he had to do something, anything, to prevent that from happening because the panic he felt welling up in him that something - or someone - of his would just walk away was going to drive him even deeper into the addiction.
"I... I didn't..." he tried, shaking his head, "I didn't mean to hurt you. It was just that moment, I lost... control. I... And then when I saw you hurt, I knew. I knew that I was a monster." The last word was said with a hiss and Ashton swallowed, forcing himself to continue. "You were wrong to trust me. You were wrong to get close to me, to touch me, to be my friend. I'm a black dragon and I'm addicted to gold and it's stronger than you, stronger than anyone, and I can't stop it. I..."
Ashton paused and looked down at his hands again as he had done in his cell. The hands that had hurt his friend and would do so again under the same circumstances. His actions against Trent not only made the human lose trust in him, but the dragon no longer trusted himself. He had to do what he could to spare Trent or anyone else any more pain, and he might as well do it before Trent said the words himself. The words Ashton didn't want to hear.
Eyes focusing again on the boy before him, Ashton moved off the wall and stood his full height, head up and shoulders back defiantly, though it pained him. "You cannot be friends with a dragon, Trent. Not if you want to live. And your life philosophy is just a lie."
---
Trent focused his gaze on Ashton, brow furrowing a little as Ashton claimed that he couldn’t be friends with a dragon if he wanted to live and attacked the very philosophy he lived by and had done for as long as he could remember. “Is that right?” He challenged, eyebrow lifting and body pushing off the wall as he dropped his hands and let them curl into fists at his side.
He snorted quietly as he angled his head, watching Ashton closely. “You talk about your addiction like you’re completely and utterly powerless to do anything about it. If you really wanted to stop and you really didn’t want your addiction to rule your life then you’d do something about it.” The telekinetic twisted that ring on his thumb, seeking the familiar comfort in it as he did so. “You’re a fuckin’ dragon, Ashton.” The word ‘dragon’ was whispered because in spite of everything Trent was still very aware that not everybody knew about Ashton and he wasn’t about to expose him, he wasn’t that much of a shit person. “Powerful, strong, fearless. Your addiction shouldn’t rule you you should rule it.”
That was how Trent saw it, if you knew something wrong and needed to be changed then you did just that, you took the bull by the horns and gave no inch until you were damned certain that you’d beaten it.
“It made you hurt me, what’s it goin’ to do next? Do you really want to run that risk? Or are you gonna martyr yourself by closin’ off any and all opportunities to live a real actual life all ‘cause you can’t live without your gold an’ you don’t know what you’re gonna do to the next person who gets between you and it?”
Trent bit out a mirthless laugh and shook his head. “An’ what you did, it wasn’t- I dunno how I’m supposed to feel after that considering everythin’ we’ve done together. Hell, I let you-” He bit back the words and swallowed past the lump in the back of his throat, emotions overcoming him and Trent ended up with just pushing a breath out.
A silence fell over them and the southerner looked away, hands flexing restlessly, powers reacting to his emotions as a few items shifted under an invisible touch.
“Tell me one thing,” he finally said as he levelled Ashton with a look. “Do you regret it? What you did?”
---
Trent was saying a lot of things and Ashton bristled at the way he spoke to him, unable to respond to all the words as more kept coming from the human. He was asking him questions that Ashton had spent the greater part of two weeks agonizing over all alone in a dungeon cell, and Trent didn't seem to think the dragon had considered them, the consequences, the meaning behind it at all. Not being one who was very good at articulating how he was feeling to begin with, Ashton felt defensive and unable to respond, like anything he said would just be trampled under the human's own logic when Trent didn't know how deeply he'd already been wounded by all of this.
He wanted to tell Trent to stop talking, to be quiet and to just leave if he was going to leave, but Ashton knew deep down that the human had every right in the world to speak to him this way and that he couldn't stop him. He had been trying to overcome the addiction, but that didn't matter right now. It didn't matter that he'd managed to survive two weeks without touching a single coin in his hoard for comfort, the only gold he'd had on him being the rings he wore. It didn't matter that he'd agreed to let Mr. Dallas help him with his addiction, or that Barclay was going to try and help him, too. None of that mattered because Trent had already been hurt and, though Ashton hadn't gone dragon on him because of the bond that he had with the human, he'd still almost died from his violent actions. If he hadn't gotten his wits together to get him to the school, Trent would have died in his lair regardless.
Trent couldn't be friends with a dragon because he was in danger of getting too close. And that was a dangerous place to be whether Ashton overcame his addiction or not. He was still a monster.
Swallowing and bracing himself for the inevitable, Ashton bowed his head. "Yes. Yes, of course I do. I didn't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt you ever again. But my gold, I... I need it. Now more than ever. It's all I have, Trent."
Bringing his head up, Ashton fixed the human with a saddened look. "So say it. Say it and walk away."
---
“All you have?” Trent bit out, expression as shocked as his words might suggest. “You really think gold is all you have despite the fact you’ve made a life at this school and you have people who care about you?”
He didn’t know how this had become about pointing out the flaws in Ashton’s argument, but apparently it had and Trent couldn’t just leave things alone. “I mean sure Anna’s pissed at you and I’m hurt by what you did, but that doesn’t mean we suddenly stop giving a shit. And have you forgotten ‘bout Barclay? From where I’m standing, Ashton, you have a lot more than gold. The sooner you realise that the better.”
Trent clenched his jaw as Ashton looked at him with that sheer and absolute look of sadness in his gaze and he snorted. “I like how you seem to think it’s that easy.” Sure it had been easy for his dad, to just walk away and leave him and his mother, but Trent wasn’t his father. “M’not gonna forget anytime soon what you did, but doesn’t mean I’m just gonna turn my back on you.”
Anna had in a way, but Trent knew that was only because she’d been so angry at Ashton, and fairies it would seem had only enough room for one emotion. Give her time, she’d come round, that much he was certain of, even like him she wouldn’t forget anytime soon.
“If there’s one thing you should take away from this is the fact that somethin’ needs to change, it’s not about distancing yourself because all that’s gonna do is feed into this idea that gold is all you have, it’s about owning the very thing that made you regret what you did and the very thing that made you feel like a monster.”
Trent hadn’t realised it but at some point during his tirade he’d gone and gotten closer, maybe a little too close and he stopped himself from getting any closer. “We’re friends, Ashton. I don’t give up on friends even if they-” Trent caught himself and stepped backwards, needing that bit of distance just to gather his thoughts. “But if you don’t learn anything from this then I don’t know how I can help you. Especially as gold isn’t all you have. Might be the one constant in your life, but it isn’t all you have.”
Or maybe that wasn’t enough for the dragon?
“Hopefully you figure the stuff you got outside of your gold is worth fightin’ for,” Trent offered with a shrug as he moved towards the door, pausing for a moment and looking over his shoulder. “I mean, hell, if I didn’t give a shit why the fuck am I here?”
He gave Ashton a lingering look. “Think ‘bout it ‘cause gold isn’t gonna keep you warm at night an’ it sure as hell ain’t gonna make you happy in the end.” Trent’s shoulders lifted. “Just- I’m just gonna need a bit of time, but doesn’t mean we’re not friends.”
---
Ashton had gotten close to a grand total of three people in his time at St. Margaret's. Two of those three people had walked, or were walking away from him because of a part of his nature that he couldn't change on his own and hadn't even known about until it happened. The idea that Trent seemed to be suggesting, that he had more than just gold, seemed incorrect to Ashton because of the facts staring him right in the face. The evidence on the table. People, he was learning from this, came and went from your life. He had lost Barclay before, too. That Barclay had come back around didn't mean everyone would. It didn't mean that Barclay wouldn't one day leave him again, either. With the dragon, everything was absolute. It was black and white. You either were something or you weren't, and he had an impossible time distinguishing the gray area between because he lived in the present and it was all he knew.
Trent was coming closer as he spoke, and Ashton could smell him more acutely than ever. The scent of the human was something that he had memorized and in the past had used as a point of comfort and now those memories seemed to mock him. Especially when Trent stopped. As the human drew back, stepping away, Ashton pressed back against the wall in response, having been about to reach for the boy, wanting to take him and claim him and make him his own again. But Trent wasn't his anymore. One near fatal mistake that the dragon hadn't been able to control or even understand at the time had now made Trent afraid of him. Made him not want to be near Ashton at all. That first night he'd flown with Trent, when the human had fearlessly vaulted to his back and had clung on, then touched the dragon all over without fearing the teeth or the claws or the fire that dwelled in his chest, it all seemed so long ago, like it was another person, and the boys words now hurt Ashton the more he spoke.
But still, he couldn't make him stop and he couldn't form the words to reply as more and more came from Trent, each one with wounding results.
It was happening again. His friend was walking out and Ashton didn't know what it meant that he needed time. How could they be friends still if Trent was leaving? That panic was rising inside the dragon again, growing stronger the further Trent moved away from him. It was that same feeling he'd gotten when Anna walked away and the same one he had whenever his gold was threatened. Except this time there wasn't a cell door or a Slayer between him and what was his. What he wanted.
"Trent, please," he whispered urgently, daring to reach for him this time because maybe, just maybe, he could make him stay. His hand extended to try and catch Trent's sleeve, unshed tears showing in his eyes that were the human response to the emotions boiling inside him. "Please don't leave. I... I..."
---
Trent paused the moment Ashton's hand did manage to snag in his sleeve and his jaw tightened when he saw and heard the emotion that Ashton was going through.
The southerner reached for Ashton's hand where it gripped for a moment, strength present when previous to this he'd had none.
"What is it, Ashton?"
Without thinking (and maybe that was what had gotten him into this mess but that was Trent all over) he pushed the door too, conscious and aware of the tears he could see.
He knew better than anyone that Ashton wouldn't want people to see him cry.
---
Ashton hardly noticed the tears he felt. There was much about his human side, they called it, that he didn’t understand. But when Trent pushed the door shut and clasped his hand that had snagged Trent’s shirt, Ashton felt that same hope rise in him again and he stepped closer to the other boy, hardly breathing, his posture, for once, meek.
With his head down and with deliberate slowness to try his best not to frighten Trent, he reached with his other hand, catching Trent gently by the hip, fingers clutching at his belt and clothes for a solid hold, ready to spring back at any sign that Trent was still going to walk out. Slower still, the dragon came closer, lacking any of the confidence and surety he had displayed in the past. All he knew was he didn’t want Trent to walk away, fearing he’d lose him even for that much longer.
A kiss was pressed to the hollow of Trent’s throat where the blood had pooled when he’d been hurt and where, in the past, Ashton had placed many kisses and small bites. Ashton lifted his eyes and met Trent’s, “I’m sorry. You should know. Thinking I had killed you was the worst day of my existence.” Which meant it was worse than losing his gold, worse than living alone for a hundred years without nurturing parents, and worse than when Blake had stabbed him with the sword.
He didn’t know how Trent felt about him or if he would ever feel for him again, but in trying to understand all of this, the inner workings and the why and how, the dragon knew one truth, and that was he didn’t want the human to come to harm. That fact meant he had to let him go. Ashton had never given up anything in his life on his own accord but he knew Trent would get hurt again if he was near him. Trent was right, and Ashton’s gold ruled him like a cold and heartless mistress.
He wanted to fight against it, but he didn’t think he could do it without the people in his life who were supposed to mean more than his addiction. If those people who he wanted to mean more weren’t strong enough to handle his addiction and its effects, then Ashton knew, and feared, he would never be able to hold another person any more than he could catch light from the moon. The moon set, the light could be obscured by clouds, but the gold with its silent and familiar deceiving comfort was always there.
Stepping away from Trent, unsure if it was a move to preserve the other boy or himself, to guard one or the other, Ashton backed off and wiped his tears with the back of his hand, the gold rings flashing in the lights.
---
Trent did tense when Ashton got close, but he recognised the meekness in the other boy's posture and saw that he didn't mean him any harm, which meant he didn't pull away or jerk suddenly when Ashton laid his hands on him. He kept his breathing even and just watched, stomach twisting when he felt the press of Ashton's lips against the hollow of his neck.
Worst day of his existence? That was saying something considering what little Trent knew of Ashton's past he still knew that the dragon hadn't had an easy life, far from it in fact. He exhaled a breath and swallowed hard, hating how his emotions warred with one another. A part of him wanting to just walk away and be done with this, but another much larger part wanting to do what he could to help his friend with an obvious addiction, which could ruin his life if left unchecked.
It wasn't necessarily forgiveness, but Trent was human, he possessed compassion and he could hear the sincerity in Ashton's words and feel the weight of the recent events on the dragon's shoulders, and it was this that caused the southerner to close the distance and just pull Ashton into a hug. Besides he cared. Maybe he shouldn’t, but he did.
"I still need time," Trent shared quietly as he lingered in Ashton's space. "I gotta deal with what happened, but I ain't just about to walk away from you, Ashton." This was Trent's way of telling Ashton that he hadn't lost him, not completely, he just needed to take a bit of time to figure everything out, but he wasn't abandoning him.
Trent had enough of his own abandonment issues without fuelling those of the people he cared about.
---
"You... you're not?" Ashton was very still when Trent embraced him, but his hands did lift to slide around his back, staying light, still afraid he would just pull back and leave. Which would be for his own safety, the dragon knew. "What does that mean? What does it mean that you need time?" This was all foreign to Ashton. He didn't know if it was that he was leaving for a time, like Barclay did, or if he needed more time to heal from injuries that Ashton couldn't see.
Ashton wanted to see for himself, in depth, every inch of skin, that Trent was better, but he dared not touch him any more. He was learning that just because he wanted something didn't mean he could have it. The lesson may not have sunk in completely, but Ashton was learning.
---
“It means,” Trent began. “That things aren’t gonna go back to how they were instantly.” He leaned back and caught Ashton’s gaze. “An’ m’gonna be givin’ your lair a wide berth for safety sake.” Better safe than sorry, especially as Trent knew the only reason he’d survived the encounter was because Ashton had come back to himself, but what if he didn’t come back to himself next time?
The southerner exhaled a breath, gripped Ashton’s shoulders and then let go after a moment.
“Takin’ a bit longer to bounce back from this one, Ashton.”
---
Ashton nodded. He knew Trent coming back to his lair was out of the question and he would not have permitted it even if he'd asked. Until he could get a grip and learn to control himself when his gold was perceived to be under threat, Ashton had no intentions of letting anyone near his lair, not just Trent.
When Trent gripped his shoulder, Ashton met his gaze again. "But... I still want to talk to you." He knew he shouldn't, and that Anna would be even more angry with him, in fact the fairy would be angry he was here at all with Trent, even if it was the human who had come to him. But he had relied on Trent for a lot in the past. Emotions were one thing Ashton didn't understand well and Barclay was not a great source of knowledge there and had, in fact, directed the dragon to Trent rather than explain certain things. Without Trent to help guide him, even if the boy's life philosophy had turned out to almost kill him, Ashton didn't know who else to turn to.
He boy his lip and was torn because he knew for Trent's own safety, he shouldn't be friends with the dragon, but since he'd said they were still friends, Ashton's mind was all mixed up. He didn't know where his boundaries were, or even if he should be doing this, but Trent was here, getting the dragon's hopes up.
---
"And you will," Trent said with a nod. "I ain't about to disappear on you." He dropped his hands away. "But right now we gotta call time on anythin' else. Let's just focus on bein' friends, alright?"
Baby steps, rebuild the trust and figure everything else later. That was how Trent was looking at this whole thing, salvage what they could and worry about everything else later. Better that than nothing at all.
"Don't worry 'bout Anna, I'll talk to her."
---
Ashton still had questions, still didn't understand exactly what this meant, and his confusion and unsure thoughts reflected on his face as he tilted his head slightly. Call time on anything else? What was anything else besides being friends? Though he wasn't obtuse, Ashton preferred to have things spelled out in black and white, and didn't like guessing at others' intentions or meaning.
But Ashton didn't dare to ask, deciding they were both better off with letting Trent be the one setting the terms on their friendship, such as what was left of it. Maybe he could avoid nearly killing the boy again if he did that. Ashton shuddered at the thought and took a step back.
"Very well." More questions, like what was he going to talk to Anna about, were left unsaid. It was difficult to keep everything he wanted to know and everything he wanted to say inside, but he bit his tongue and just looked at Trent.
---
Trent could tell that Ashton was confused and he pushed a breath out of his chest, clearly the dragon hadn’t understood what he meant. He was referring to their more intimate of relations such as they were, Trent wasn’t ready for that, especially as that took a lot of trust and they needed to work on that again.
“The intimacy, Ashton,” Trent said carefully. “We gotta call time on that for now an’ we gotta focus on rebuilding.”
He knew full well the threat Anna had levied against the dragon if he saw or spoke to Trent and he didn’t want Ashton in trouble for an action he had undertaken of his own volition. He swallowed hard, rubbed a hand through his hair and he nodded his head.
“Alright?”
---
"The..." Ashton at last connected what Trent was saying, even if 'intimacy' wasn't what he was familiar with sex being referred to. It had many names, it seemed. "I won't touch you." He promised with a curt nod that was followed by a release of air. It's what had led to Trent being hurt in the first place, and he wouldn't take that chance again.
"All right," he intoned.
---
Trent watched Ashton closely before he gave a short nod of his head. “Okay, good. I’m gonna-” He gestured over his shoulder. “Talk to a fairy before she comes looking for blood.” A weak joke but a joke all the same, lips tugging into the smallest of smiles.
“Don’t want her thinkin’ that you came lookin’ for me.”
The southerner moved towards the door and tugged it open.
---
Ashton didn't smile. Nothing about this was amusing to him and it was very likely Anna would, in actual fact, come looking for blood to try and protect Trent. Though he wasn't afraid of the fairy or believed she could actually hurt him, Ashton had every faith that she'd use her words to wound him where a physical attack wouldn't.
Watching Trent move to the door again caused the dragon to clench his jaw. It was difficult, letting him go, and Ashton couldn't help but feel like the human, who wasn't his human anymore, would be leaving for good, despite his words of reassurance. Ashton stood still where Trent had left him, watching the door open, but he looked away before he could witness Trent actually walking out of it. He didn't want that image left in his mind.