It's Only Words [B'jin, R'nd]

V’ler didn’t think himself malicious and really didn’t even think he was as devious as others he knew but he supposed what he had planned and was currently in the process of doing counted as one of those two things. If nothing else, it was definitely meddling. It wasn’t the first time either though to be fair, B’jin had brought it upon himself by the little comments he had made after their flight together. Revenge was sometimes petty but V’ler had enjoyed writing the love confession song and fooling the greenrider into singing it at the graduation in front of everyone. It had led to more than even the bluerider had bargained for when the lovebirds started making out on the dance floor and had to be encouraged to find a bedroom before the clothing came off.

As much as he enjoyed watching his friends exist in their blissfully oblivious world, V’ler also wanted to see some more progress made between them. He wasn’t much for matchmaking but he had a lot to work with when it came to R’nd and B’jin. The simple fact that B’jin had apparently been rather reclusive before the bluerider came along and the way R’nd bed hopped regularly before hopping into B’jin’s was pure gold. They had balanced the other in some way and were ridiculously adorable together and that was something even V’ler could admit to.

It was why he currently had B’jin sitting in one of his chairs, reading over a paper he had been given. V’ler didn’t explain what it was, leaving his friend to assume it was a new poem or potential song for B’jin to sing. There were actual songs in the works and some were nearly complete that one day the elder Harper would be able to breathe life into with his powerful vocals but this wasn’t one of them. This was something he had been tricked into reading and V’ler was looking forward to the comments that were sure to come after reading and after hearing the truth.

He sipped water from the glass he was holding and continued to watch B’jin for a reaction. They were on a time schedule but V’ler didn’t want to rush B’jin. Veeth was nearby, flirting with Larrikith, and promised to warn him when his next visitor was arriving. R’nd was always on time and hardly ever early so V’ler wasn’t too worried his first piece of the plan wouldn’t get set right. “Well?” He asked when it looked like B’jin had finished and was doing another scan over the sheet, prompting the man to share his thoughts.

There was no reason for B’jin to be at all suspicious of Valerian’s motives for asking him to come around – and the greenrider was less than surprised when said visit resulted in him being curled up on the bluerider’s couch with a sheet of parchment in front of his nose and a glass of water perched on the floor. It was a very typical visit, and B’jin was content and more than a little pleased to read whatever his young harper friend had been up to, and give his opinion on it. B’jin was very quietly pleased to have someone interested in writing for him again – it had been far too many turns since someone had specifically written with his voice in mind, and B’jin had missed it a lot more than he’d realised.

Perhaps that was why the current song in hand was so strange ot him; he’d been expecting something more… Valerian, and what he was reading wasn’t it. “I dunno,” B’jin murmured, frowning slightly as he finally answered Valerian – he had pointedly ignored the prompt for a good two minutes as he re-read what was in his hands. “It’s not bad, but it doesn’t read like you.” B’jin scrunched his nose up, tilting his left hand one way and the other in a wishy-washy motion, ending it in a shrug. 

The lyrics – he assumed it was a song, despite the lack of music written on the sheet – were good, but the words were different from the ones usually used in Valerian’s music, and it threw B’jin off slightly. “You usually use more flowery words.” The lyrics of the song in his hand were very straightforward; there were no fancy metaphors or hinted at things between the lines. It was blunt, and honest, and B’jin frowned at Valerian in confusion as he lifted his gaze from the neatly written words, to the young bluerider.

The greenrider shrugged again. “It’s singable. What music are you going to put with it?”

It was about the answer he was expecting and V’ler was glad B’jin could tell it wasn’t his usual style. There really wasn’t anything wrong with it, especially not with the message, but it wasn’t his way of writing and V’ler was a bit of a snob over what his name was attached to. He’d still happily put it to music if requested since he enjoyed doing that and the lyrics weren’t amateur enough to warrant him staying away from even a joint project but that likely wouldn’t come to pass.

“I’d likely put it to a soft and soothing melody accompanied by a guitar but I’m not sure the actual author wants it made public.” V’ler let that thought linger for a moment as he took another sip of water, his gaze never leaving B’jin’s face so he could catch every turn of the mental wheel and expression. Will he be mad? V’ler gave a mental shrug, possibly. B’jin and R’nd both, since I’m not sure which one you’re referring to. There was going to be a show of emotions soon and he could only imagine which would come first and then dominate. “R’nd wrote it for one of his assignments.”

You shouldn’t meddle so much, Veeth pouted a bit, still worried about the reactions of his friends but V’ler was less concerned. It’s all done in the name of romance, Veeth. V’ler knew how much his dragon liked his poetic side and enjoyed the flowery nonsense he could toss together so he played on that, doing his best to point out this was like one of his songs come to life. Sometimes lovers needed a little extra help to notice what they had. After all, he had no idea that B’jin had already confessed his love to R’nd sometime ago or how they often danced around the subject.

B’jin nodded slightly at the type of music that would be put to the words, not quit picking up on the ‘would’ until Valerian mentioned an ‘actual author’ and B’jin looked up, startled but not truly surprised. It wasn’t at all like Valerian’s usual style – Valerian was still there, but it made sense if he wasn’t the actual author. B’jin had no doubt that he’d played some part in the development, however. “I see,” B’jin murmured, voice low as brown eyes dropped back down to looking at the lyrics, not at all catching on to the way Valerian was studying him.

“Assignments?” B’jin completely bypassed the surprise that R’nd had written the piece, to latch onto the one that did not make an ounce of sense at all. “What assignments?” Why was his lover doing assignments? Why was he giving the results to Valerian and not him? Distressed hurt etched over B’jin’s face, and his gaze dropped back to the song. B’jin gently placed it on the couch, closer to Valerian, and folded his hands up in his lap, still staring at his knees, clearly upset. If R’nd hadn’t shown it to him, than he wouldn’t have wanted B’jin to read it, and that left B’jin feeling like he had breached some unspoken agreement of privacy.

“He did very well,” his voice was soft, barely above a whisper. Why hadn’t R’nd shown it to him himself? Was he unapproachable? Did he think B’jin would laugh at him or tease him? B’jin struggled to shut down his thoughts before they went into realms that were far less easy to cope with.

Now that was an unexpected reaction. V’ler was waiting for a freak out to come over R’nd being the one to write something, and not just anything, but words stating he wanted to know his lover ‘inside out’. Why was B’jin worrying over it being an assignment? Did he think R’nd had been purposely tasked with writing about B’jin? That would have been amusing and V’ler doubted R’nd would have done it. The bluerider probably thought he was being sneaky by writing what he did without any true prompts being about B’jin.

“Oh, unknot your knickers, B’jin. R’nd has been studying with me for several months. It started with renewing his writing and reading skills because, from what I can gather, he was embarrassed of them and worried about what you, an essentially Master Harper would think of him or how your reputation would decrease near him.” That had been an interesting conversation. R’nd was so good with his words most of the time but he had been shy and hesitant about asking for help with his basic skills. V’ler wasn’t fond of teaching and did his best to avoid it at Katila but he agreed to help out R’nd since the bluerider was a decent man and a friend through B’jin.

“Since he already had a good foundation and only needed refreshing after so long of not needing it, we moved on to creative writing. For this assignment, I told him to write about something or someone important to him.” It didn’t have to be a poem, it could have been a story. V’ler actually expected it to be about his family back in the North, Ayyonth, or even Benden but had been surprised to see R’nd expressed a desire to learn more about someone that was obviously B’jin.

Whether the greenrider picked up on that obvious fact was doubtful given the way he had pushed the papers aside quickly after learning the author. “He wrote it about you, B’jin.” When in doubt, just blurt it out.

R’nd approaches now. He’ll be there in a few minutes.

“He’s on his way over for a lesson now as luck would have it.” Or evil mastermind planning, anyway.

Unhappy brown eyes lifted from his lap to frown at Valerian when the bluerider aimed a quip at him, the greenrider pouting pathetically. The words were listened to quietly, but the expression on B’jin’s features said a lot more than any words he might have spoken. Incredulous, and indignant, B’jin just stared at Valerian. While the greenrider would never question someone’s desire to learn more, he was shocked by the reasoning that had been presented for why R’nd wanted to learn more. His lover was ashamed of himself? Because B’jin was over educated? He had no idea how to cope with that, and so B’jin settled for just continuing to stare at Valerian in confusion. How did one even come up with that idea?

B’jin shook his head slightly, in part to brush away the idiocy of R’nd not being smart enough or… whatever crock of Faranth crap Valerian was trying to pull there, and clear his head. Only to hear the next assumption the bluerider was making, and B’jin gave a snort of laughter. “Of course he did,” B’jin replied, brown eyes sparkling with a sudden amusement. It was blatantly clear the greenrider did not believe that for a moment R’nd had written the song about him, and he was just as clearly amused that Valerian did; obviously the young bluerider did not know R’nd nearly as well as he thought he did.

The statement that R’nd was on his way over had a very simple response: B’jin once more reverting to a confused frown, though there were slivers of suspicious springing up around the edges, and his eyes narrowed just slightly. Valerian was up to something – B’jin was picking up on that much – he just couldn’t figure out what or why.

V’ler had to resist doing a very sturdy slap of palm to his forehead. How dense could B’jin be? As B’jin frowned and pulled off his perfected confused look, V’ler stared back, wondering how he was going to work with what he was given and why he thought it was a good idea to begin with. If he was truly smart, he’d agree that R’nd didn’t write it and shoo the greenrider out the door and continue on with R’nd’s lesson in peace. Too bad he was more stubborn than smart right then. He had started the plan and he’d try to see it through. If they were lucky, all three of them would make it out alive. As it was, V’ler was currently torn between betting on B’jin or him not making it and it’d be at his own hands in both situations.

“How about you go sit quietly in the kitchen and ponder your denseness while I have my lesson with R’nd. You can take notes on my teaching abilities and critique me later if you want,” V’ler knew everything would fall apart if R’nd saw B’jin in the room. He’d pretend he wasn’t there for a lesson and pretend nothing was about the greenrider he was definitely mated to but had yet to realize he was. He also knew if he told B’jin to hide in the bedroom like he almost said, it’d backfire even more spectacularly. R’nd wasn’t one to nose around his sparse hut, and refused to even help himself to kitchen items out of some sort of manners carried over from some teachings in his life, so V’ler knew B’jin could sit on the bed and be fine. Except he also knew the greenrider well enough that he’d likely end up squeaking in surprise or even sneezing and V’ler didn’t need the extra headache caused from all of the pouting between the two guests.

When the knock came, V’ler rose to his feet and pointed to the kitchen as a final reminder that B’jin get moving. The young bluerider gave B’jin both glasses of water to clean up as well before heading for the door. He held his gaze on the greenrider to verify if he was moving or not and waited a moment longer for any protests or flailing.

R’nd waited patiently outside. He never let himself into V’ler’s hut, especially after having the door answered by a rumpled greenrider once. As luck would have it, Veeth won a flight right near the hut and the happy winners had used V’ler’s hut instead of someone else’s, or the dining hall, or the bathhouse, or the classroom… R’nd loved his wins with B’jin! Even though he hadn’t walked in on anything and was only greeted with an annoyed and groggy V’ler after the greenrider had left, R’nd promised he’d always knock and wait to be let in. So the current wait didn’t bother him and wasn’t nearly as long as it could have been if V’ler was ushering someone into their clothes to leave.

When the younger man finally opened the door, R’nd smiled in greeting and walked in. There was nothing amiss to lead him to believe his lover or anyone else had just been occupying space on the couch and it certainly wasn’t something he felt the need to ask about. “What’s the plans for today?” they had moved on from writing some time ago, V’ler deeming his penmanship only needed some refreshers but was actually quite good. Reading hadn’t been too rough on R’nd either since he had been properly taught back at his Hold but he still felt his training had been incomplete and all the time away from books had made the bluerider want to learn again. He had stumbled quite a bit initially when told to read aloud but had improved in that area as well and only new words R’nd knew he wouldn’t see on a daily basis that V’ler threw at him caused him to hesitate.

So their lessons had turned into more creative writing to test both the imagination and the ability to string sentences together in new ways. R’nd liked the sound of poems and songs, enjoying the way they flowed but he hated writing them under all the rules. Rhyming and timing was hard! It made him appreciate V’ler’s talent at penning songs and B’jin’s ability to sing them all the more. It had taken him three weeks to piece together the final project he’d turned into V’ler and today he hoped to hear more about it.

V’ler was pleased to see B’jin obey like a good boy and had even smirked at the frown that clearly said he thought the young bluerider was so bossy. He was also pleased to see R’nd was still oblivious to his surroundings and hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary as he entered the hut. So far, everything was continuing along marvellously. “I figured we can discuss your writing homework you handed in last lesson and then get you to read a few pieces aloud.” R’nd was actually a good public speaker and had a wonderful way with words on the fly but he had been hesitant with reading for him when they started their classes. Now, the bluerider was giving impressive version of how something should be read with emphasis and dynamics.

B’jin’s spot was claimed and V’ler picked up the piece of writing he had been reading while he waited for R’nd to grab a seat as well. “Honestly, it’s basic and straightforward but it works. You took my advice for rhyming schemes and used it well. With a little extra tweaking and fine-tuning, I’d be inclined to put it to music. But I want to hear you read it, see how you wanted it to flow.” It was an easy task and something the Masters at Harper Hall had fun doing. Everyone could read something in a different way and apply a beat and flow that they heard in their head as what they thought it should be. Nothing was ever truly wrong but the author’s way was always the preferred.

R’nd didn’t really know how to feel embarrassed since he never saw his actions and words as something to be ashamed of but right then, being asked to read aloud something he had spent too many hours writing, he was thankful he didn’t have the ability to blush. V’ler had already read what was on the paper and seemed to like it as well but what if he read it incorrectly to how the Harper had? Just because he had penned it didn’t mean R’nd was great with rhythm and timing. After all, V’ler had said it needed some fine-tuning. With a frown, R’nd nodded and grabbed the paper from his fellow bluerider and stood up. V’ler had pointed out that everything sounded more crisp and clear when standing and breathing was cleaner as well.

One breath, and then another, and finally R’nd was ready. “The biggest lie you ever told, your deepest fear 'bout growin' old. The longest night you ever spent, the angriest letter you never sent. The boy you swore you'd never leave, the one you kissed on New Year’s Eve. The sweetest dream you had last night, your darkest hour, your hardest fight.” R’nd didn’t realize he was doing it, but some words were stretched out a bit more like a song was ready to burst from his mouth. If he had looked up, he would have seen V’ler nodding in surprised approval.

“I wanna take my time, I wanna know your mind. You know there ain't no doubt, I wanna know you inside out.” Personally, R’nd thought the chorus was a bit too bold but V’ler had told him to write about something important to him or something he knew well. B’jin had become extremely important to the bluerider and R’nd , while afraid to actually ask his questions, really did want to know everything he could about his lover. So the questions were put to paper and somehow the lessons about rhyming were remembered and he made it kind of work.

“What makes you laugh, what makes you cry? What makes you mad, what gets you by?” R’nd always wanted to be the bright spot in B’jin’s day and wanted to know how to keep the greenrider happy and how to cheer him up from the darker days that still gripped everyone no matter the efforts.

With the last line read, R’nd stared at the words without seeing them for several seconds before looking up to see how he would be judged.

---

R'nd's poem is actually Bryan Adams' wonderful song 'Inside Out'. Youtube that! The video is strange though.

Interesting. V’ler liked the way R’nd read what he would smatter throughout the questions and call a chorus. A song really was building in his mind and while he hadn’t been serious before, he wanted the permission now. “I want to compose music for your poems. It would make a sweet song and even if it’s only for you and no one else hears the finished product, I want the challenge of tossing something together again for someone else’s lyrics.” It had been too long since he had that happen. V’ler liked doing every creative aspect of the writing and didn’t mind if he didn’t sing the finished product, especially when he had someone like B’jin to bring the words to life so beautifully, but it was a different sort of fun to create music for another person’s words.

When R’nd’s shock seemed to pass and he nodded permission, V’ler gave a rare yet still small smile. He could work on the older bluerider at a later date to get the permission to debut it in public or at least sing it for the two people the song catered to the most. Which brought V’ler to one of the important parts of the day; verification.

“Who did you write it about, R’nd? Don’t lie. We both know you’re not good at it based on your odd morals and we both already know the answer.”

R’nd froze almost comically as he was called on the subject of his song and his mouth hung open just the slightest bit to show off his shock. It was painfully obvious V’ler was going to notice everything given the way the man seemed able to dissect conversations and body language as well as he did before calling them out on their stupidity but R’nd had managed to fool himself into thinking his blatantly obvious poem was beyond V’ler’s comprehension and he’d simply enjoy the care taken in finding words that went well together.

He stared for a moment at his feet, finding his shoes to be in excellent condition and made a point to remind Kerrin that the pants he had mended due to a high-energy encounter with B’jin looked brand new and went well with the boots. It was just a shame that his stall tactics wouldn’t work forever and a glance to V’ler told him the clever brat was expecting the answer even though, as he said, he already knew it. It was somewhat pointless to hesitate as much as he was since it was only the two of them in the sparse hut and while V’ler could use words like weapons and knew too much about most people, R’nd suspected some things were kept to himself. Likely, V’ler did that because it was more entertaining to watch other people figure out what he already knew.

“It’s about B’jin. Before you think I’m needy or greedy,” it was always hard to judge how V’ler was going to judge someone and R’nd could see himself being called both things and possibly even bossy just for good measure. “I’m happy with what he tells me and love listening to his stories but I want to know everything about B’jin that he’ll share. I want to… well, know him inside out.” R’nd already had the terrain of B’jin’s body memorized and still loved exploring it but the greenrider’s mind was trickier to navigate.

B’jin was pouting pathetically as he made his way into Valerian’s kitchen with a grumpy look thrown at the young man for good measure; he was getting far too big for his britches! Bossy little blue rider! Grumbling to himself, mostly in his mind where Larrikith just laughed at him but also under his breath, B’jin did as he was told and quietly sulked  at the table. He had no idea R’nd didn’t know he was present; after all, Larrikith was outside with Veeth! He also had no idea R’nd wasn’t told he was there at any rate. The green rider figured he had been banished to the kitchen to avoid causing a distraction and was still grumbling under his breath that R’nd hadn’t poked his head in to say hello. Likely Valerian had told him he’d down his grade if he did. B’jin grumbled more.

B’jin frowned when he could hear Valerian’s voice, but couldn’t really catch what the young man was saying. Honestly, he needed to learn to project. How could he possibly be worth a half-mark as a singer if he couldn’t even be heard a room away in his own silent hut!? He twisted in the seat he had claimed, frowning at the doorway and tilting his head to hear the younger harpers words. When he basically repeated what B’jin had said to him originally, the green rider scowled. He wasn’t sure if he was more irritated by Valerian insulting his lover with B’jin’s own words, or that the blue rider couldn’t even be bothered to come up with his own. Wasn’t he supposed to be the wordy one? Huffing, B’jin missed the request for R’nd to read his own work, and was more than a little surprised when his lover’s voice did fill the hut. Now why couldn’t Valerian project like that? R’nd wasn’t even trained!

His lover had a lovely, strong voice! B’jin was pleasantly surprised. While he wouldn’t start dressing R’nd up and demanding he sing at dinner, the man would certainly find himself centre stage during classes from now on! The green rider had always been fond of his lover’s voice, but he had never really stopped just to listen to the sound, rather than the words being spoken. As it was in that moment, B’jin didn’t pay a lick of attention to the actual words being spoken, he just listened with clear delight to the sound of R’nd’s voice. The man needed to talk more!

The green rider slipped off his seat and crept across the kitchen, picking up on the mumbling of Valerian’s voice and wanting to hear what his young friend had to say about the other blue rider’s performance. B’jin had honestly enjoyed it, and he wasn’t even being biased! It was genuinely good, and he decided Valerian had better say as much or he’d have a pissy green rider on his case. That made B’jin smirk in amusement, before Valerian’s question was heard, and B’jin paused in shock. Why would he ask that, especially if he knew the answer? B’jin had no desire to know who it was R’nd was envisioning when he wrote those words, and Valerian was surely not so stupid as to think B’jin wasn’t aware R’nd slept with others. The green rider enjoyed hi time with R’nd; he didn’t want to be fretting he was
keeping the blue rider from whomever he fancied when they were curled up. He liked pretending he was the sole keeper of R’nd’s interest. B’jin’s expression transformed into an angry scowl as he realised that was why Valerian had asked the question. The green rider didn’t understand why so many people had an issue with his way of doing things, but he didn’t appreciate the meddling, especially when valerian had already promised – a turn or two ago! – not to meddle in what did or didn’t occur between B’jin and R’nd. The green riders breath caught angrily and he was trying valiantly not to storm out and lay into Valerian for breaking his promise.

Then R’nd answered.

Oh, he was thrilled by the implications behind the words R’nd spoke, but the reason they were given voice was because R’nd had been cornered, and B’jin could still hear enough through the outraged pounding of his heart to pick up on the nervousness in his lover’s voice. R’nd didn’t know he was there, and he hadn’t wanted to say what he had said. B’jin didn’t care why – likely because the other man was uncomfortable I some level – but he’d been bullied by the baby blue rider and that was more than B’jin was prepared to accept. Valerian could boss him around, that was fine, but he’d sure as fuck leave those B’jin cared about alone! It was the same rule N’mall had broken, when he hit Indamor, and the green rider that stalked out of the kitchen was a barely controlled explosion waiting for the fuse to burn out.

Bjin had a temper, but it was buried in a well that never seemed to fill up. An emotional bottler, B’jin had only lost his temper once at Katila, when he broke up with N’mall, and only a handful of times in the length of his life. He had more of a tendency to quietly bow his head, or sulk, or cry than to get angry. Despite that, the green rider still had his triggers, and Valerian had hit one on the head. “You promised,” his voice was a heated snarl, brown eyes hot with outrage as he towered over the seated blue rider, “not to interfere.” His fists clenched and unclench end at his sides, the harper trembling from head to toe.

B’jin? the green abandoned her play with Veeth without ceremony as her bonded’s emotions spiked, and she landed anxiously outside the front door. B’jin? Love? her voice wasn’t modulated and was easily heard by the occupants of the small hut, and her fellow dragons. He wasn’t responding though! Benjinamor? Love? It’s okay! See? R’nd isn’t unappy! her tone clearly begged the blue riders to agree with her. It was just a game. Love? V’ler didn’t mean anything by it. B’jin? Bjin? Don’t, love. Please? he hadn’t blocked her, he was just ignoring her. The dragon creeled in distress. Benjinam- the dragon was silenced by the green riders low snarl of “Be silent,” with another soft creel.

Valerian had made a promise, and he’d broken it, and he had dragged R’nd into the mix and B’jin was quite sure the man was less than appreciative, but he was refusing to look at him, unwilling to have R’nd mistake the target of his anger. R’nd had not done anything wrong, they’d clearly been set up and B’jin was furious. Not the type to resort to physical retaliation, however, B’jin continued to stand there, breathing harshly as his fists worked overtime to clench and unclench, almost daring Valerian to make light of the situation. B’jin wouldn’t hurt another living creature, but he had no qualms at all about a destroying the young man’s hut, and revoking friendships. The only prevention to the explosive tantrum was the fear of how R’nd would react; the blue riders good opinion of him was paramount.

((That... Got long xD tablet post. I tried to catch all the typos. B'jin is having difficulty expressing how angry he is and he's worried in feh back of his mind how R'nd will react to it all :( ))

So much for well-thought out plans. B’jin wasn’t supposed to come stalking out of the kitchen; in fact, he was supposed to continue sitting in that room, sulking and then preening when he heard the answer. Actually, V’ler would have loved to see a look of embarrassment as well since B’jin didn’t believe the obvious and had likely come up with some far-fetched idea.

As it was, it looked like the greenrider wanted to go against his obvious nature and punch someone and rampage around. V’ler wasn’t too concerned, though. He had been hit and beat black and blue in the past for singing songs that weren’t appreciated at a certain Hold or simply because he didn’t follow fashion trends but had his own style like he wore then with the right side of his shirt longer than his left and trailing down his thigh into a point while he only had a long sleeve on the left. He’d also received a few death glares and several bruises because of his mouth and saying something that may have been the truth but not appreciated all the same. It was a hazard of who he was but somehow Katila had been a bit more accepting of him and V’ler hadn’t been left covered in bruises – at least not for those reasons. Veeth’s lust would possibly be the death of him.

He stared up at B’jin, unflinching and without showing any interest in standing or physically protecting himself. If he knew the greenrider was thinking about destroying the few items he owned, V’ler would have been more active. All he had was his guitar and written records of his time since being kidnapped. Both were priceless to the young bluerider and worth showing emotion over. “I’m not interfering. I’m assisting.” V’ler didn’t see it any other way. To him, interfering was getting in the way and ruining a good thing and that wasn’t the intent of the day. Back in B’jin’s kitchen he had promised not to interfere and said he wouldn’t point out even the age gap near R’nd lest the bluerider freaked out. This wasn’t anything worth freaking out over and one glance at R’nd showed he was shocked but likely not about to bolt for the door and never look back.

I told you it wouldn’t work, Veeth creeled as well, worried about Larrikith and how B’jin didn’t seem interested in listening to anyone. Everything is fine, Veeth. Just a little bump in the road. The story hasn’t finished yet. V’ler flicked his gaze from B’jin and back to R’nd to see what the man would do.

B’jin! Why was B’jin here? Had he heard his poem? Was he angry about it? Why was his greenrider so mad? R’nd stood paralyzed as he watched the man storm into the room and not even acknowledge his presence, so intent was he on yelling at V’ler. What had the younger bluerider promised? Not to interfere? When had that happened and why was B’jin worried about it happening in general to warrant a promise be made? R’nd was extremely confused and seeing B’jin so upset wasn’t helping anything.

He heard Larrikith’s pleas to calm down and that wasn’t helping any. The cues that he wasn’t supposed to be upset or mad or any other negative emotion were heard but R’nd was still stuck in shocked mode and wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say. V’ler didn’t seem bothered by it at all and insisted it wasn’t interfering but helping. Helping with what? Why was everything happening at once and not making any sense to him?

Ayyonth landed beside his companions, giving Larrikith a quick nuzzle of reassurance. Veeth was a good kid but he wasn’t what the sweet green needed right then. They will sort it all out. R’nd hears you and soon his brain will catch up enough to make everything better and calm B’jin. If R’nd didn’t do that, and soon, he’d have a large and heavy blue dragon sitting on him shortly.

Seeing B’jin so upset was breaking R’nd’s heart. He didn’t know exactly the way the man had been triggered and he had no idea how to fix it either. It was just like his poem and he would have laughed if the situation would have allowed for it. Two ideas swam around in his head for how to correct the mess he had caused – and R’nd was sticking with the belief he was at fault and not V’ler – but he wasn’t sure the fleeing option was the right one. It was his most commonly used one when emotions were too high and he couldn’t solve the problem but that had happened less and less since spending time with B’jin. The issues between them still cropped up, usually in misunderstandings, but R’nd always tried to get them back on the same page instead of abandoning all hope.

Misunderstandings…

That’s what this was. Grey eyes narrowed in suspicion at V’ler, now convinced the brat had been up to something with his so-called assisting and the poem had something to do with it. He was slowly starting to think meddling and assisting could be counted as the same thing depending on who was offering and how they went about it but that was moot by that point; he had some salvaging to do now.

Letting the poem slip from his hand to flitter to the floor, R’nd took the few needed steps to bring himself up behind B’jin and wrapped his arms around the greenrider’s waist. A kiss was given to the top of B’jin’s head and R’nd frowned, though only V’ler would have seen it. “I’m sorry, love. I didn’t want you to be ashamed of my lack of talent so V’ler was helping me and that… my attempt at pretending I was creative… I didn’t… you weren’t… I didn’t want to upset you with me being so nosy. If I wrote down some questions, maybe I wouldn’t ask you by accident one day.” If nothing else had been learned that day or over the months in class with V’ler, R’nd could at least say he had learned he shouldn’t try writing anything and to hang up his creative quill then and there.

“When I got better at it, I would have shared my poems with you.” He’d only be writing them for B’jin after all. With a pathetically sad sigh, R’nd loosened his hold to let his arms slide away from B’jin so the greenrider could flee or turn around and punch him as he saw fit. His good ideas really didn’t turn out all that good lately.

“They’re the same fucking thing!” B’jin exploded, though is voice was on a low register, a snarl of furious disgust. He threw his arms out, gesticulating with vicious jerks, still glaring down at Valerian and his smug face. B’jin’s lip curled. “I don’t want your help!” He gave the couch by Valerian’s leg a solid kick to emphasise his point, vaguely satisfied by the crunch of wood under the toe of his boot.

The greenrider opened his mouth to snark more at Valerian, but snapped it shut as he startled viciously when R’nd suddenly wrapped arms around him, anger drowning under a sudden cold wave of terror. It took him a few heartbeats to realise it was R’nd, and to hear what he was saying over the pounding of his heart. His hand reached for R’nd’s, grabbing it before it had slid away fully and holding it at his waist. He stumbled back a half step, leaning into the bluerider and soaking up the warm reassurance that it was his lover standing with him.

“I would never be ashamed of you.” He spoke gently to R’nd, but hard brown eyes remained locked on Valerian. R’nd had spooked off the majority of his anger unintentionally, but he was still furious with his young friend. Beyond furious, and while it showed in the gaze locked on Valerian, the voice that delivered words to R’nd was much gentler. “You can always ask, and your work is wonderful.” So he had only seen the once piece; B’jin did not care. Even if R’nd was a one-hit-wonder, he had done very well at it, the greenrider had thoroughly enjoyed it, and was very proud of his lover.

His voice turned hard and cold again, and at whom it was truly aimed was quite clear; “Valerian just needs to learn to stay the fuck out of what isn’t any of his fucking business.” Which namely was B’jin’s personal life, apparently, and his lover’s to more of a degree than he would have guessed originally. “There is a difference between being a Harper, and being a nosey, gossiping bastard.” He turned in R’nd’s arms and kissed the bluerider gently. While soft brown eyes clearly said ‘I love you’, the greenrider voiced no such thing; he had no desire to ever let Valerian in on any aspect of their life any more, and he certainly wasn’t going to distress R’nd further by abandoning him to Valerian with those words lingering in his ears!

Giving the bluerider another soft kiss, B’jin threw Valerian a filthy look over his shoulder and stalked out of the room, making a point to slam the door as hard as he could as he exited. Dignity be damned! B’jin says you should continue your lessons, if you wish to. He is very proud of you. The greens words were for R’nd alone, though Ayyonth was continued by default as she nuzzled the blue, clearly stressed and trying to relax as B’jin came stalking over and climbed up with swift motions. He threw and apologetic look at Ayyonth just before Larrikith vanished between from the ground, wings half extended.

A nice, long, relaxing flight was required. And a bath. Larrikith crooned as they popped out of between by the mountains.

R’nd didn’t chase after B’jin and not just because the slamming of the door was jarring to his senses and seemed so final. He knew B’jin needed space and was slowly but surely figuring out when it was best that the greenrider have someone with him or when he needed alone time. This seemed to be one of those alone time moments and while he’d check on his lover in a bit to make sure he hadn’t started in on a drunken stupor, R’nd let him be, only frowning at the door. He had so much to think about himself.

He had been a fool to think B’jin would have been ashamed of him but at the same time, R’nd knew how snobby the man could be when it came to music and art. How was he to know if it carried over to literature and having a good education? R’nd wasn’t sure what to think about the rest of the comments made though. Perhaps later, much further down the line, he would try asking more questions to see if B’jin really was comfortable with answering them – although his sneaky lover said asking was fine but made no comment on whether they would receive answers. As to his trouble-causing poem, R’nd wasn’t all that inclined to believe the praise. After all, he had seen B’jin praise Amorandii’s art and even R’nd could tell it wasn’t that good. At least the girl tried and she loved what she did and to the bluerider, that was the most important part. With her birthday only a few days away, perhaps he’d try to get her some small pots of paint made up to encourage that passion.

The most baffling thing of all, R’nd reminded himself before he managed to sidetrack himself, was the look B’jin had given him before leaving. There was so much said without a word and it didn’t freak the bluerider out. It was reassuring, in fact, to know B’jin wasn’t mad at him and still looked at him the same way. There wasn’t anger nor was there disappointment or even mockery for his attempts at being creative. Still, R’nd felt like he had a lot to make up for to his friend and he’d take the time away from each other to figure out how to start.

Focusing back on V’ler, R’nd wasn’t sure what he was supposed to feel other than impressed at how indifferent the other bluerider had been the entire time. He should have been mad at V’ler for upsetting B’jin, and he supposed he was on some level, but the gratitude was too strong. V’ler helped him improve his skills and even his meddling had helped B’jin and R’nd communicate a bit more, learning more about each other when they likely wouldn’t have reached that point for quite some time on their own. “B’jin deserves better than being duped like that. I know it’ll be hard but try not to mess with his life on any level again.” R’nd spoke calmly, any threats and glares that usually came when he was protecting someone important to him were lacking since in this case he knew V’ler meant well and they all could eventually get over it. “Probably best we forget the idea to put music to that as well.”

Hesitating for only a moment more, R’nd finally made a decision and didn’t head out the door like B’jin had – or rather, in the direction B’jin had since R’nd had no intentions of slamming doors and stomping. “So, what else are we working on today?” Larrikith said it was okay to keep going with the lessons and while R’nd knew he’d never be Harper material, he wanted to keep learning about the writing styles and even V’ler’s past jobs.

As he waited to hear what the plan was, R’nd retrieved the forgotten paper and stared at it a moment before shaking his head. “It’s only words,” he whispered, more to himself, lost in thought once more over good intentions going bad, “but words are all I have.”

B’jin was rather skilled at throwing a tantrum, V’ler would give him that. He’d also give R’nd props for how easily he could calm them. Too bad he couldn’t calm them entirely and V’ler was in for a slight jolt of surprise that had green eyes widening slightly as the couch was kicked. He would have thought for certain he was going to be decked and wouldn’t have been surprised by a flying trembling fist. But a childish, though well-powered, kick to his innocent furniture? That was just plain rude. Slamming his door wasn’t much better either and V’ler had to wonder how old B’jin really was. It seemed to be actual age of fifty, looked about thirty, and acted about five.

The remarks about him didn’t bother V’ler either. There was a difference between being a Harper and being a nosy gossiper but there was also a difference between those and being a friend, which was what he was actually acting on. B’jin would see that one day, possibly but it was hard to tell with such a dense skull. But, since the greenrider seemed to have forgotten the way he compared the bluerider to S’kef after their flight, V’ler didn’t think the anger would last long.

“That went well,” he finally offered up his opinion though no one but his sulking dragon had asked. It went horribly! Larrikith was stressed and B’jin is mad at you. His dragon was still sweet and naïve. They talked, Veeth. Another step forward was made. R’nd got his permission to ask questions and B’jin found out his lover is smart and creative. To V’ler, that was progress and made for the day to not be a total bust. What was even better was R’nd didn’t feel the need to punch him like he seemed to want to do to S’kef every time the brownrider looked at B’jin the wrong way. Given he was getting away with a slap to the wrist by not being allowed to compose music to his words, V’ler nodded without arguing.

He quietly watched R’nd retrieve his currently one and only masterpiece and study it. The bluerider was an interesting man and far more than just the flirty playboy everyone saw him as. There was a lot locked away in that mind that he didn’t let others see and while V’ler knew he hadn’t seen much, he had seen enough in their lessons to know people were missing out by only seeing the pretty face to a kind man. The whispered words only served to prove V’ler right even more and he couldn’t help but add to the line that inspired him, playing off of R’nd’s accidental creativity spike, “to take his heart away.” If he couldn’t compose music to what was laid down in ink, perhaps he could build a song around that line instead.

V’ler waved to the chair for R’nd to sit in once more. If the older bluerider wanted to continue, then they would. Perhaps they could work on the key elements to proper story-telling and the homework could be to practice on B’jin when the pair undoubtedly met up again that night. R’nd would be able to explain everything with the right amount of detail and know how to keep his audience hooked – not that B’jin needed it since the greenrider was clearly hooked on R’nd already.