@silvcrtongued - OH NO I’M SOFT FOR TWO DUMB BOYS
Wait– what— who– oh! Oh!
He’d stiffened at the arm around his shoulder, but when he processes who it belongs to he relaxes, and a laugh of pleased surprise escapes him as the full weight of a very old and long-unseen friend nearly knocks him to the side. “I should be the one saying that,” he replies, half teasing and half scolding, grin settling on his face. “My gods, but it’s been eons! Where in the world have you been hiding?!” (He says, like the same can’t be said of him.)
“Excuse me!? Have some manners -- you first!”
The King laughs out loud. He’s joking, of course, free hand curling to gently, carefully bop the damned fool on the chin with his knuckles. It feels as though nothing has even changed -- but ah, surely things must! Not everyone is tied down in quite the same ways that Edgar is, and he’s rather keen to hear some fresh stories.
“Ugh, you know how it is. Kings must attend to their people, and I’ve... Uh, I’ve had a lot of that on my plate.”
It’s a piss-poor explanation, but it’s all he’s got. It sounds much better than the truth -- which has mostly consisted of aggressively ignoring his own, personal problems and drowning himself in busywork.
He’s needed this more than he lets on, only too happy to rekindle this old friendship and pick up exactly where they’d left off. Outside of his existing circle of friends, there are few people that he clicks with quite as much as Thancred -- and he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought of him on several occasions in his absence.
“What’s your excuse?”
