WARNING: This story is SLASH, a.k.a. male/male relationship. Don't like, don't read, don't flame, got it?

A/N: THIS IS A PLEA FOR REVIEWS! I'm just a poor, slash-enamored girl who happens to live in Homophobia City, so I don't have anyone I can trust to read this without ostracizing me. Please, I really want some constructive criticism on this; I can't get it any other way. I'll review your story too! I promise! Feel free to email me with any questions/comments/whatevers…actually, I'd love it if you'd email me: emails make my day. Thanks! ^_~

Kris slowly swirled the amber liquid in his glass, watching absently as steam rose like a ghost and blew softly away into the cold night. The firelight shone warmly on the thick furs spread haphazardly on the frosty ground. As Kris watched, the lean man wrapped in the blankets shivered in his sleep, instinctively rolling closer to the source of heat. The red-gold glow of the fire illuminated his face, all lines of worry and pain smoothed away by the kind light that caught in his dark hair and smoldered until it shone like cinder. The sleeper made a soft noise as he nestled deeper into the furs, and it took all of Kris' self-control to stop himself from flinging his tea aside and burrowing into the coverings, warming his frozen body against smooth, hot skin. He held his breath for a moment, then expelled it in a sigh, sending a cloud of mist toward the stars. Kris lowered his head, staring deep into his cup of tea.

"Damn sun," Sean muttered, squinting peevishly at the blue sky visible between the leaves that hovered overhead. Kris grinned wryly, tapping Sean's blade with his own to recapture his wandering attention.

"Come on, Sean, we're supposed to be practicing." The other boy made a small sound of annoyance, but adopted a ready stance all the same. Kris lunged forward, sword raised, in an attempt to surprise his opponent, but to no avail. Sean twisted agilely to the side, deftly parrying the attack in one swift movement. Kris recovered quickly, pivoting on the ball of his foot to deliver a slashing blow to the other boy's chest, rather more forcefully than he had intended. Sean's blade tumbled out of his hands and the boy stumbled backwards, clutching at his stomach. Kris dropped his sword immediately.

"Sean! Jesus, I didn't mean to…Are you okay? Sean!" The young man fell heavily onto a mound of moss at the edge of the clearing, and Kris ran and knelt at his friend's side. Sean's eyes were closed, his body limp.

"Sean!" Kris shook the boy's shoulders, desperately trying to jostle him into consciousness. "Sean!" There was no response. Just as Kris seemed to feel a lump of ice fall heavily into his stomach, Sean cracked one limpid blue eye open. A sly smirk spread across the boy's face as he lifted his arms to cross them behind his head.

"You bastard!" Kris yelled furiously, tackling his grinning and completely unharmed friend. They wrestled in the soft grass of the forest clearing, sniggering and cursing in turn. Several minutes later, they sprawled, panting and winded, on the crushed grass, the sweat on their bare chests glistening in the late morning sun.

Any bird flying overhead would have thought he was seeing double: the boys were so much alike that many had mistaken them for twins, though in fact the two had only met a year ago when they both happened to enlist on the same day. Their differences were not many; Kris, the older of the two by a few months, had coal-black eyes that often seemed to burn with amusement. Sean, on the other hand, had innocent eyes as blue as royal blood. Just about everything else about the two, however, was identical. Both had the lanky, unfinished look of boys around the age of ten who had grown tall in a short period of time, and both had long dark hair usually worn bound, though Kris' tail had come undone during the tussle.

The two boys lay flat on their backs until they finally caught their breath.

"Bastard," Kris sighed, grinning. Sean snorted.

"Sorry. It was too good an opportunity to miss. You should have seen your face." Kris punched his friend on the shoulder.

"Shut up. Do you think Calhoun will let us come back now?" Sean cocked his head, peering at the sun appraisingly.

"Yeah," he said finally, sitting up and reaching for his shirt where it hung from a nearby branch, "I think we've been out here long enough. He said drills for an hour, right?"

"Two, actually, but I think it's okay." Kris stood up, stretching stiff muscles, and sauntered across the clearing to gather his shirt and gear from underneath a tree. The two boys left the clearing, swords and shirts tucked under their arms, and joined the small path that lead towards the army encampment. As they neared their tent, Kris saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He flung out his arm, whacking Sean across the chest.

"Ow! What the—"

"Quiet!" Kris whispered, drawing Sean with him into the shadow of a tree. "Look over there." He pointed to the edge of the forest. Sean stared for a minute before he gave a hiss of surprise. A small, black-cloaked figure was flitting between the trees, coming ever closer to the tent that the boys usually shared with Calhoun. For a moment, Kris was struck by how ridiculous it was to wear a black cloak in the bright morning sun, but he quickly shoved the thought aside. The enigma hesitated just outside the tent flap, seemingly looking about for witnesses, and then it slipped silently inside.

"Come on!" Kris murmured urgently, tugging at Sean's elbow. "Calhoun might be in trouble! We've got to help him!" Dropping their gear, the boys raced down the path towards the tent. Just as Kris was about to go bursting into the tent, Sean grabbed his arm.

"Wait!" he panted, "We should check it out first. What if it's just a council or something?" Kris had to admit it; the younger boy had a point.

"Good idea." Sean flashed him a smile and they snuck around to the back of the tent, lying on their stomachs to peer cautiously between the canvas tent wall and the grass. At first Kris couldn't see anything but table legs and two pairs of boots, one pair much smaller and daintier than the other. He turned to Sean, puzzled. The other young man raised an eyebrow and shrugged, then motioned for Kris to lift the canvas a little higher. As he did, the situation became much clearer.

The mysterious figure's cloak had fallen to the floor, unveiling a mass of golden curls that was currently being thoroughly explored by one of Calhoun's calloused hands. The other slid down a creamy white arm, and then came to rest at the modest swell of the woman's chest. Kris watched in fascination as Calhoun sucked passionately on the stranger's mouth; if someone had described this scene to him earlier, he would have laughed hysterically. Now, though, it struck him as completely unfunny. They both looked so…happy. Calhoun smiled contentedly as he pulled away from the woman, brushing back a golden curl that had strayed to her cheek. She smiled up at him, cupping his chin in one delicate hand. As Calhoun began one by one to undo the buttons of the woman's dress, Kris started to feel lightheaded. The man carefully slipped the dress over the woman's shoulders, and it joined the cloak on the floor. Kris' eyes traveled up; long alabaster legs, a flat, fair stomach, round white…he sat up quickly, feeling blinded, and backed away from the tent on all fours. He staggered to his feet, shook his head as if to clear it of what he had just seen, and looked about for Sean. The other boy was still lying on the ground, looking rather shell-shocked. Kris grabbed his shoulders and hauled him to his feet, clapping a hand across the young man's mouth as he opened it to speak.

"Not here," he whispered, "Come on." The two young men headed quickly back to the path, not stopping until they reached the pile of clothes and blades that they had tossed into the bushes. They gathered up their gear in silence, Kris' mind still occupied with what he had witnessed back at the tent. After a moment, Sean broke the stillness.

"We should probably go back to the clearing," he said, clearing his throat and pretending to fold his shirt. "Calhoun probably isn't expecting us for another hour, at least." Kris nodded, then smiled weakly.

"I never would have guessed that mouth could do anything other than yell. Guess I was wrong." Sean laughed obligingly at the lame attempt at humor, and with that the boys set off back up the path. Their hike was quiet; not terribly unusual in itself, but to Kris it seemed that the normal companionship that had always hung between them was suddenly uncomfortable, though he couldn't quite put his finger on what had changed. After a moment's awkwardness he shrugged the thought off, attempting to focus instead on the path in front of him. Before long the trail widened and the boys were back at the familiar clearing, the green smell of crushed grass rising on the wind to meet them. Kris strolled easily through the trees, dropping his sword and shirt in such a careless manner that Calhoun would have taken his ear off had he seen it. Just as he reached the center of the clearing, a telltale breath of wind ghosted across his shoulder. He turned just in time for Sean to crash headlong into his chest with a triumphant cry.

"Bastard!" Kris' breath left him in a laugh as he hit the ground hard, thrashing desperately in an attempt to roll out from underneath the young man. He felt his foot connect with something solid, and pushed off it violently, flipping a laughing Sean onto his back. Kris tried to lock the younger boy's arms, but the sweat from the earlier exertions made his arms too slippery. He instead contented himself with grabbing the other's long hair and quickly untying the leather thong that held back in a tail. As Sean's hair fell across his face Kris leapt off him, victoriously holding the leather aloft as if it were spoils of war.

"Ha!" he wheezed, flopping to the ground beside Sean, who was also breathing heavily. The younger boy turned his head and mock-glared at Kris through a curtain of shady hair.

"Cheater," he growled, reaching for his hair tie. Kris grinned and tossed it to him, then lay back onto the grass with a groan. For what seemed like a long time, though in reality it was only a few minutes, the two boys lay next to each other in silence. Kris closed his eyes, listening to the peaceful sounds of the morning forest, and, for the first time, the rhythm of Sean's breathing. It was hypnotic, yet, despite his decision to take a quick nap in the sun, Kris discovered that he wasn't at all drowsy. Eventually, he capitulated and opened his eyes.

"Sean? You awake?" An affirmative grunt assured him that his friend was indeed conscious, though from the sprawled, lethargic look of him, Kris would never have guessed.

"Back at the tent…" Kris began, not really knowing what he was planning to say. Fortunately, Sean seemed to know better than he did.

"I know," the young man murmured into the turf, his eyes still closed, "I don't think I'll be able to look at Calhoun the same way ever again." Kris chuckled pensively, unfocusing his eyes slightly as he contemplated the pattern of green on blue above him.

"Me neither. That was something, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. I never thought…I mean, they looked so happy…" he trailed off, opening his eyes and rolling onto his back. Kris shook his head to himself, remembering how he had thought nearly the exact same thing.

"I still can't believe it. Really, how much fun can it be to…do that to someone?" Sean frowned, apparently thinking hard. Kris' concentration, on the other hand, was broken as a dot of pale pink broke the symmetry of his blue-green pattern. He blinked and sat up, lifting his hand to pick the rosy petal off his bare chest.

"What's that?" asked, Sean, propping himself up on his elbows to look over at Kris.

"It's a petal, but I don't see…" A few more pink blossoms fluttered to the ground near the boys, who swiveled their necks around, trying to find the source of the strange flowers. Suddenly Sean pointed into the forest behind Kris.

"They're coming from over there." With a bit of groaning, Kris got to his feet after Sean, who was heading for a small tree just outside the clearing. As the young men got nearer, the bittersweet scent of the flowers got stronger and stronger. Standing beneath the tree, Kris reached up to stroke a soft new leaf.

"Almond tree?" he queried doubtfully, watching as the last of the old blooms drifted slowly to the forest floor. Sean shrugged and threw himself to the ground in a puff of petals and promptly closed his eyes again, apparently content to doze in the dappled sunlight beneath the scented tree. Kris sank down and sat with his back propped against the tree, though he didn't even try to nap; instead, he let his eyes wander around the forest, lingering on the sun-drenched foliage, the bruised petals beneath him, his companion's dark profile spotted with shadow and light. For a moment, he didn't even realize that Sean's eyelids had lifted; they only registered as just two more little speck of blue added to the scenery in Kris' dream-beguiled mind. Then he blinked, and found himself gazing deeply into his best friend's eyes.

"Kris?" He averted his gaze quickly, grinding hapless petals between his fingers in sudden discomfiture. Kris heard his friend crawling closer, but didn't look up until they were only a few feet apart. Sean caught his friend's eye for a moment then glanced away, idly fiddling with a long strand of hair.

"I wanted to ask you…" Sean trailed off awkwardly, obviously having trouble finding the right words. "Well, the only way we're ever going to learn about…that…" Kris didn't interrupt: he knew perfectly well what 'that' was. "…is to…try it ourselves." Sean's gaze wandered back to Kris, invitation and uncertainty written all over his face. Kris' mind ceased to function for a second, then resumed at full speed. Thoughts, guesses, and hopes ended up in a tangled mess somewhere between his brain and his mouth. He meant to say something, but instead found himself pressing his mouth tentatively to Sean's petal-soft lips. The two young men held perfectly still: though he hated to admit it, Kris was at a complete loss as to what to do from there. After a moment, Sean parted his lips slightly, placing a kiss on Kris' lower lip with such care that it might have been made of eggshell. With a smile, Kris pulled back slightly and lifted his hand to brushed back a strand of Sean's dark hair, accidentally leaving a couple petals caught just above the other boy's ear. Then he leaned in again, pressing his palms to the flower-strewn earth. A sharp, sweet scent rose from the bruised petals and lingered in the air, thick as fog. As their lips met once again, Kris could have sworn he tasted almonds.

A/N: Hi, it's me again! ^_^; I just wanted to add that title suggestions are gratefully accepted. And now I want to direct your attention to a lovely little button in the left-hand corner of your screen…