Boy, oh boy, I’m so sorry this took me forever! Work has been exhausting and I kept bouncing between ideas and then one turned into fluff and I am totally NOT keeping that one to flesh out and write more mm mm noway not a chance
It’s just safe to assume that all my fics are under the cut so they take up less dash space tbh.
8. “Stay with me!”
“So. Are we not talking anymore?”
Haleir had been dreading hearing that voice. He sighed and gave his horse one more gentle brush before turning to look at Caleb.
The young templar’s dark circles were worse than Hal remembered. Pain and concern sent a pang through his chest and Haleir cursed himself for still caring.
“I’ve already said all I had to say.” Hal couldn’t bring himself to look the other boy in the eyes. Those dark brown swirls would just pull him right back into Caleb’s arms.
“And that’s it? I don’t get a chance to fix things? We can’t talk this out?” Caleb took a step into the stables. “Songbird, I--”
“Don’t.” Haleir ran a hand through his hair and gave Caleb the coldest look he could manage. “You don’t get to call me that anymore.”
“That’s all it takes? One sentence and we’re not even friends anymore?”
“One sentence?” Hal’s heart twisted in his chest. “That sentence said everything, Caleb! If you don’t understand why I’m so upset then I don’t think you ever will.”
“Oh sweet Maker, Haleir. I said I was sorry!”
“Sorry? Sorry?! You called mages dangerous weapons! You called the Inquisitor a fool for trusting them!” The Avvar wiped the tears from his eyes. “Is that really what you think of them? Of me?”
Caleb rubbed his temples and sighed. “That’s not what I meant. I just. I didn’t know you were there! Fuck. Look can we talk about this somewhere else? Somewhere private?”
“There’s nothing to talk about. You want to be like the other templars. You want to lock up mages and toss away the key, right? Well I’m a mage.” Haleir held his arms out in front of him. “Go ahead and lock me up.”
An armored fist slammed into the wooden support beam next to Caleb. “Dammit, Hal! That’s not what I want and you know it!”
“Then what do you want?”
“I want you to stay with me!” Caleb gave Haleir a desperate look, tears beginning to brim in his eyes. “Please. Stay with me.”
“You can’t pretend I’m not a mage, Caleb. If you hate mages, then you hate me. You can’t hate part of me and love the rest of me, that’s not how this works.”
Before Caleb could respond, Haleir spun around and stormed out of the stables. He wasn’t sure where he’d go, but as long as it was away from here, Hal didn’t care.
