Bed of Wild Roses

Sayphon and Tyrus had trecked into the woods that morning, sneaking out of the village long before the sun, and with it the dragon, had risen in the east. For weeks the old crone, a woman skilled in the arts of herbs and healing, who lived at the very edge of the village, had come to the village fire in the evenings with tales of impending doom, of magical plants and a hidden spring that as said to be a doorway to another world, just like the fairy stones. A doorway to a world from where their salvation was to come.

Sayphon and Tyrus knew the woods better than anyone else in the village, even better than the hunters, who spent all their days in the woods, tracking and trapping game.
The crone's stories had captured Sayphon's and Tyrus' imagination immediately and it had not been long till their minds were set on finding the magical spring.

Clad in their warmest boots and cloaks they had followed an unseen trail through the already wintry forest, their breath turning into white clouds in front of their exercise-reddened faces. Frozen dew dusted the autumn leaves and the last berries with a white sparkle. Already too far from the village to turn back as they finally noticed the dragon, they stood on a distant hilltop, doomed to watch helplessly as the beast's fiery breath engulfed their village.


Sean yawned, rolled his head from side to side till the vertebrae cracked back into place and frowned as his hands curled around a cold mug. Damn. Seemed like it was time for yet another tea run. He threw a last , half-longing glance at his typewriter. No, tea was more important. He needed the fluids. He had no idea what kind of tea Karl had made, though he was sure that it had not been one of the standars, but what ever it was tasted actually quite good once one got used to the slightly sharp herbal taste. Not that he had ever bought any herbal tea except for chamomile.

He froze, already halfway to the door as the clock caught his eye. Oh damn. Almost one p.m.. For just a moment the idea of simply banging his head against the doorframe till he passed out was more than appealing. He had been writing for hours. Without a break. Sean shook his head. He had been planning to hide in his work, but he had not planned on leaving Karl to roam the house at his will for so long.

"Fuck." Sean's hand hovered over the doorknob. Maybe the rest of the world would just go away if he stayed in his study? For all he knew Karl could have adopted stray animals into the house and repainted the walls with some all-natural-products-based paint or something. "I wonder how much of my life is left." He told the door, "I never should have let him stay."

There was just no telling what Karl might have done. Andhe had forgotten to make an oppointment with a shrink. They had to deal with the fairy stuff as soon as possible. For just a moment a vision of Karl sitting in a repainted kitchen, surrounded by does, birds and bunnies flashed through his mind. Just like a fucking princess from one of those Disney movies. Oh right, he needed to breath. Maybe he should stop giggling manically.
Sean forced himself to take a deep breath, still fighting an occasional giggle or too. Groaning he let his head fall against the door. The muffled bang triggered a short-lived but intense feeling of satisfaction. Damn. When had his life become so fucking complicated? And dared he leave his study?


~***~


"Sean!"

Sean blinked, momentarily blinded by Karl's smile. Jesus. Was the man always this entusiastic and happy?

"I was wondering when you'd come," Karl comtinued, oblivious of Sean's momentary lapse, "But I thought it might be better not to disturb you and... well," he shrugged, clearly waiting for Sean to say something.

"Thanks." Sean managed, finally looking around. He was almost disappointed that Karl had not repainted the kitchen. Not even a single, doe, baby rabbit or little bird in sight either. Hm. So much for the princess idea. What ever Karl had been doing had left no trace except for the bowl on the counter and what ever it was that he was hiding in the ove.
"You cooked?" He asked, managing a weak smile. "Great. Evie should be home soon."

"I know." Karl turned, taking a pair of scissors from one of the drawers. "She told me this morning."

"Of course. Um," Sean forced himself to ignore the fact that Karl was still wearing the same damned sweats, "What do you need the scissors for?"

"Oh, I wanted to get some herbs from the garden."

Fuck! Sean took a step back as his body took yet again notice of just how close Karl was. Just within arm'slength. All he had to do was reach out and -no! He screamed mentally at himself. No jumping the fairy. Man. What ever. This was the worst time to lust after another man. And Karl with his fairy delusions was the last person he should be lusting after, no matter how beautiful. Oh damn.

Karl was giving him that look again. That slightly confused cum worried one that had his heart beating a marathon every time. Not fair. Hm. Karl's lips were moving. Beautiful.

"I'm sorry." Sean mentally shook himself. "What were you saying?"

"I wanted to know if you liked the infusion."

"Infusion?" Sean frowned, blinking at Karl. "What infusion?"

"You seemed a bit stressed this morning, so I picked a few calming herbs and made an infusion from them." Karl explained, waving the scissors into the general direction of door and garden.

"The tea?" Sean asked, taking another step backwards and eyeing the scissors suspiciously. "Are you saying that the tea you gave me was an infusion?"

"Yes." Karl's smile was almost blinding in its intensity. "Did you like it?"

"Um." Sean raked a hand through his still-tousled hair, forcing yet another smile. "Yeah, yes I did. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Oh damn. Why did it have to be Karl's smile the caused the fluttering sensation in his stomach? His smile was so disarming it probably had to be registered with some agency or organisation or something like that. It definitely should come with a health warning. At least.

"So, ah," Sean paused, "What's for lunch?" He eyed the bowl curiously. The only thing he could see over the rim was some sort of colourful... stuff. It sort of looked like fruit. At least he hoped it was. "Salad again?"

"Yes. You seemed to like the last one I made," Karl explained, "And in there," he waved the scissors at the oven, "Is vegetable lasagna."

"Ah, so that's what I was smelling." Sean quickly sidestepped Karl, who was still on his way to the door. "I didn't know I had enough vegetables to make lasagna from"

"You didn't." Karl was already halfway through the door. "But you had a lot of wild-growing plants and vegetables in your garden."

"Wild-growing? Wait!" Sean raced through the door, just in time to see Karl disappear into the shadows of an old elm tree. "You put stuff from outside into the lasagna?"

"Of course I did." Karl said indignantly, looking up from where he had already started to pick and snip at some strange, green plants. "It's bad enough that I had to make the fruit salad with canned fruit, the least I could do was make the main course from fresh things."

"Ah." Sean narrowed his eyes at the long-leafed green plants Karl was pulling from the ground. "And these," he gestured at the plants, "Are the herbs you used for that tea? Infusion." He hastily corrected himself at Karl's glare. "And yes, I really liked it."
In any other situatoin the dance Karl's eyebrows were doing would have been hilarious.

"How did you know what I was going to ask?" Karl demanded, wiping his hands on his pants.

"I guessed?"

"Uh-huh." The fingers of Karl's left hand fiddled with the herbs he had picked, while the other hand juggled with the scissors. "So you did."

"Yes." Sean crossed his arms in front of his chest. "What about it?"

"Nothing." Karl mimicked Sean's stance, the scissors and the herbs somehow lessening the effect. "Have you thought about what we're going to do this afternoon?"

"Do this afternoon?" This time Sean was the one to raise his eyebrows. "Why should we be doing anything this afternoon?" He frowned, feeling increasingly uncomfortable under Karl's scrutiny. "What?"

"Sean." Karl stared intently at Sean, tapping the scissors against his forearm. "When was the last time you took Evie out?"

"Um."

"See?" Karl asked, turning back towards the house. "So," he threw over his shoulder, "What are we doing this afternoon?"

Sean stared helplessly at Karl's retreating back, flabberghasted by the question. He truly could not remember the last time he had done anything with Evie except maybe read her a story or play a card game with her. "Damn."
Had he really been that absent-minded? And why did Karl's trousers have to be so tight around the other man's ass? Maybe an outing to the mall would not be so bad. They needed to get something else for Karl to wear. Something that fit.

Sighing he glanced at his abused garden. How long would it take before all the herbs and plants were gone? At the rate Karl was eating them probably not too long. Oh, well. With another heart-felt sigh he followed Karl. His life had been swept up in a raging river of fairies, fairy tales and general weirdness. Seemed there was nothing else he could do but try to swim along with it and stay above the water. He grimaced. Even if it meant facing the mall.