Kalli's Journal

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Wine and Reconstruction

"Your hair is getting long again."

"It's a hassle to keep getting it cut," Luka replied. "It can be long for a bit."

Chromeheart chuckled and looked like he had a comment waiting on his tongue. But he didn't speak, instead just regarding Luka with a knowing amusement. He still looked young - not a day over forty, at least, though Luka knew otherwise. And Luka was definitely looking at all of Chromeheart. Some things never changed.

"You've set up shop out here, I see?"

"Well, the last one was lost in the battle," Chromeheart said with a tiny shrug. "Half the mountain, too."

"I didn't ever think he would--" Luka began, only to have Chromeheart silence him with a little wave.

"Water long passed under the bridge, Luka," he said. "Now come along. Let's get that bottle of wine open and chat. I know you don't visit unless you need something, after all."

Luka was poised to protest, but it was true. He did need something. He needed quite a few things. But the first was just to be around someone who understood and wasn't wrapped up in romance or otherwise. Someone who just knew--

Luka had not always slept with Chromeheart. Well, not in the current definition, at least. For starters, it was forbidden for an active master and student to share that sort of relationship though Luka knew quite well that it happened. Chromeheart, while not by the book in pretty much every other way, had stuck to that one even though he'd figured out Luka's puppy-crush fairly quickly.

Only once Luka was no longer apprenticed did their visits become interesting. Well, more interesting. There were never dull times with Chromeheart, even if the evening called only for wine and meditation.

The present did not involve meditation, though Luka was fairly sure he was somewhere else entirely as Chromeheart thrust into him. It was probably the wine and the night and the incense burning thickly in the cabin Chromeheart was using as a shelter and workshop. But there was something more, too, and Luka was fairly sure Chromeheart tuned into it, too.

Luka had what he came for and had what he needed but that moment -- the feeling of pleasure and power and the universe...

"Are you okay?"

Luka nodded. He wasn't exactly the type for cuddling - not with Chromeheart, at least. But he hadn't really moved and they'd both finished already, hot and sticky and not quite ready to come back to reality.

"Could I stay for an extra day or two?" Luka asked. There'd just been so much to figure out, after-- those battles had not been pleasant. He'd pushed and drained and finally... Well, he'd done impossible things, hadn't he?

He thought he'd recovered, but apparently there were things he still needed to recover and feel. No wonder he'd felt the urge to seek out his master.

"Of course."

Luka still felt small when Chromeheart ruffled his hair. He didn't protest that, or when Chromeheart rolled away to get up and stretch and find a towel to get them both cleaned up.

"I didn't figure you came all the way out here for just one thing," Chromeheart continued as he worked. There was no shame as he toweled himself off and then moved to do the same for Luka. Luka wasn't sure he'd ever have quite that much confidence, despite everything.

"I wasn't exactly sure," Luka admitted. "Ever since he--"

Someday, they'd say his name again. But until then, Luka knew Chromeheart knew exactly who he was talking about.

"Sometimes when you have to put yourself back together again, you have to do it in a completely different way then you expected," Chromeheart interrupted. "It's okay. No one expects you to be the same old guy."

"I think that's what everyone is expecting," Luka admitted as he shifted a bit to make space for Chromeheart's hands and the towel.

Chromeheart chuckled. "When have you ever been what everyone is expecting?"

Luka had opened his mouth to speak and suddenly didn't have anything to say. Chromeheart was right, after all.

"Hungry?" Chromeheart asked a minute later. He tossed the towel over into a pile of clothing that Luka was pretty sure he'd be washing in the river in the morning.

"Yeah," Luka replied. He rolled on the bed, watching Chromeheart's backside head for the kitchen. And then he stretched and rolled and ran his hands through his hair. It was getting long.

Maybe he'd keep growing it - at least for awhile.