who_is_she | troll unguent

troll unguent

When he'd first stepped onto Roddie's airship Tony had half expected to severely regret his decision to stick his neck out for this job. He'd certainly never expected to make friends with the crew and become enamored with the Captain, enamored enough to agree to go with him down into a dank, dirty cave in search of mushrooms, and he didn't even mind--

"What do you even need mushrooms for?" Tony complains loudly, making a face and scurrying around a damp spot when he accidentally steps in it, "They're not useful for anything except those, like, little fried ones. Those are all right. But you could just buy them like everyone else does instead of bothering with this cave nonsense-- oh, eugh."

--All right, so he minded a little, but only enough to complain about it. If he really cared about the state of his shoes he'd never have agreed to come at all. Truthfully, he'd been desperate for a while now for whatever scraps of Roddie's attention he could earn, and a quick errand together certainly fell under that umbrella.

"You owe me some new shoes," he says, and is about to go on about how expensive and special his shoes are when a sudden bone-shaking bellow echoes through the cave, making Tony startle and whirl around. Somehow, there's a huge, hulking troll behind him, lumbering up towards him and Tony jumps back, swearing colorfully as he draws his pistol and grabs his shield off his back.

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Roddie laughs a little and rod his eyes at Tony's complaints, and the shrill tone his voice takes on. He gets down on his knees and holds the fire in his hand out in front of him to better light the walls of the cave.

"You can't buy them. Not this kind, these are special," Roddie says, shaking his head, "Well, you can, I'm sure, but they're expensive. It's cheaper to get them yourself. I guess price has never been an issue for you, has it?"

He turns his head to the side to shoot Tony a grin in the dark of the cave, and nudge him lightly with his elbow.

"They're good, though, delicious. I promise it'll be worth it. Besides, this is more fun, right? Me and you, and your priceless shoes, hanging out like this. You know --"

He wants to say more, to tell Tony how much he liked his company and how nice it had been seeing him loosen up, but he's interrupted by an echoing roar. He shouts and whips his head around, and when he catches sight of the creature standing in front of them he grabs hold of Tony's wrist, and takes a few slow, careful steps backwards, his eyes wide with fear.

"Shit," he whispers, "Don't...make any sudden moves."

Tony feels a shiver of something in his gut that's not at all about the giant troll, but the way Roddie's fingers curl so easily around his wrist, and he has to shake himself a little and question his own priorities. He glances around the cave his expression going grim when he realizes the troll is blocking off the exit, and the path they'd been going down very likely ends in a dead end.

"We'll have to fight it, we can't run," he hisses to Roddie, reluctantly pulling his hand away from Roddie's so he can raise his pistol, his shield raising up too to cover his torso, "I'll keep its attention." He pulls out a small contraption that expands into a turret when he presses a button on the side, and drops it in front of the troll before taking a few shots at the troll, meant more to keep its attention on him than actually do any damage. He takes off around the troll when it yells and starts after him, keeping it away from Roddie so he'll have the time and space to cast his spells.

Roddie nods, pulling his daggers out of their sheathes. He slides through the troll's legs on a jet of fire, slicing at the tendons of the creatures heels as he passes them. He then raises the ground in front of the creature, tripping it and causing it to go stumbling forward, inadvertently crushing Tony's turret in the process. His heart skips a beat for a moment as he considers that the troll might have fallen on Tony as well, but is relieved soon when he spots him still standing unhurt across the way from him.

"Sorry, look out!" he yells belatedly, as he extends his hands towards the creature to cast an ice spell, in an attempt to freeze it solid.

Tony jumps back when the troll starts to stumble, then rushes back in to bash the troll over the head. The fight is long and difficult, and just when Tony thinks they're in the home stretch the troll turns on Roddie and knocks him down.

"Roddie!" Tony screams and starts towards him, but the troll is between them and turns on Tony the moment Roddie goes down, "Shit, shit!" he yells, fighting back as best he can, and then realizing that the only way he can get to Roddie is by finishing off the troll first.

"Hang on, Roddie!" he calls, laying into the troll with everything he's got. Finally, he delivers a final blow right between the troll's eyes and it goes crashing to the ground. Tony leaps over the troll's corpse to get to Roddie, fumbling with his healing elixirs to heal some of his injuries.

"Oh Dwayna, Roddie, are you all right? Hang on, hang on, I got you," he says, his voice shaking.

Roddie hits the wall hard and rolls off onto the ground, coughing a little as the wind is knocked out of him. Everything is a little bit of a haze until Tony is beside him, at which point he coughs again and does the best he can to sit up.

"I'm sorry," are the first words out of his mouth when he catches his breath, and he cracks one eye open to look at him as he dabs at the blood on his lip with one finger, "I should have thought about the...trolls."

He clutches his side as his arms give out, and he falls over into Tony's arms, breathing heavily.

"Ow, really...really sorry" he groans.

Tony catches Roddie when he falls, holding him up with one arm tight around his shoulders and the other fumbling with a bottle full of faintly glowing blue liquid. His hand on Roddie's shoulders moves to the back of his neck, guiding his head back so he can pour the liquid down his throat. He doesn't breath a sigh of relief until he sees Roddie's injuries start to heal, and then he wraps both arms around Roddie, tossing the empty bottle away and it shatters against the stone.

"Oh, thank Dwayna, you're all right," Tony grips Roddie and unthinkingly moves his mouth close to his face, kissing him several times on his forehead and face, "If you ever ask me to go get mushrooms with you again I'm saying no, just so you know." It's not until after he's spoken and hugged Roddie tightly again that he realizes what he'd done, and he pulls back slowly with a wide-eyed horrified expression on his face.

Roddie's eyes widen for a moment when Tony's lips touch his face, and he feels his heart flutter as he wraps his arms around him and returns the hug.

"Well," he says, clearing his throat and swallowing as he rubs his hands over his back, then tentatively up to his neck, "I...guess I'll have to think of some new excuses to get you to come spend time alone with me, won't I?"

His heart is thudding against his ribcage as he smiles up at him, chewing his lip, and when Tony pulls his face away Roddie's grip on the back of his neck tightens, and he gently draws him back in.

"No," he mumbles, his lips brushing against Tony's as he looks up at him with not quite closed eyes, "Tony, don't back off now after that, I want --"

His voice gets higher and more desperate than he means it to, the adrenaline from the fight still pumping through his veins and intensifying the yearning that had already been building inside him for so long, and he presses his mouth against Tony's in a desperate, deliberate kiss.

Tony gasps against Roddie's mouth, his eyes still wide as his heart skips a beat. He makes a small noise, his hands fisting in Roddie's shirt as he can't help but kiss back. He feels a small, desperate thrill of panic as he realizes why he hasn't moved on this desire yet, realizes what his parents would think if they saw him now. But even that thought isn't enough to make him want to pull back, and he ends up pushing Roddie back down onto his back in his enthusiasm to return the kiss.

"Oh, shit, sorry," he says, pushing himself up on his arms, his face flushed crimson, "What... What are we doing here, Roddie?"

Roddie starts a little when he's dropped, and he shakes his head fast, catching his breath.

"I-I dunno. We're kissing," he stammers, talking fast and breathlessly, desperately pulling Tony back down for more and pushing his tongue into his mouth.

"Wait," he huffs, breaking apart again and opening his eyes wide to look him squarely in the face, his face flushed and hot, "You meant emotionally. Like, what are we doing feelings-wise. I, uh -- gods, I, uh, well, I really like you. Do you...also...like me? Because I thought -- with the kissing my face and stuff --"

He swallows thickly, trying to get a read on Tony's expression and not coming up with anything that made him less nervous.

Tony gapes at Roddie, the redness in his cheeks stepping up a notch as he processes what Roddie had said. Honestly, he hadn't quite made the jump to 'Roddie has feelings for me,' and he hadn't thought he would be anytime soon. He swallows thickly, trying to think of what to say, and the denial of real feelings he knows he should offer is too far out of reach. He can't do that, not to Roddie, not when it would be such a colossal lie. He bites his lip at the realization that he could let himself have this, have Roddie, even if it didn't last forever.

He nods slowly, leaning in to kiss Roddie again, gently, his hand coming up to cup Roddie's jaw.

"Yeah," he breathes against Roddie's mouth, "I... like you. Quite a lot, actually." Tony laughs, deliriously, kissing Roddie again, "I worry about you all the time."

"Me too," Roddie breathes between fast, desperate kisses, relief washing over him and leaving him trembling slightly, "I mean, for other reasons than you worry about me probably. A-and I don't mean to worry you, I just --"

He shakes his head and locks lips with him, hugging him tight and close around the small of his back, still clasping his daggers in his hands as he kisses him deeply. When they break apart he's still breathing hard, and he strokes his fingers over Tony's cheek, marvelling at him with wide eyes.

"I've...wanted to do that for a long time," he laughs, breathlessly.

Tony gapes again, pulling back to give Roddie a disbelieving look, sure he's joking. There's nothing but honesty and gratifying pleasure on Roddie's face, and Tony can't quite believe it.

"You-- You're serious?" he says, incredulous, "I thought-- I mean, I assumed you didn't... much... care for me," he admits, like it's painful to say. He'd come to accept recently that Roddie didn't hate him, but for a long time he'd been convinced that Roddie was just tolerating him and too nice to admit it. Hearing otherwise was... jarring, especially when he'd been raised to believe that nobody cared about you if you weren't a mage.

"I much care for you!" Roddie says immediately, his voice taking on a slightly higher pitch as he unintentionally mimics Tony's accent, "I mean...care for you. I mean, like you, very much, why would I keep bugging you to hang out if I didn't like having you around?"

He sits back up again, his hands shaking a little as he cups his face in his hands and plants another quick kiss on his lips.

"I mean, you've got a stick up your ass, but it's coming out," he laughs, "You're good. Great. Your heart's in the right place. And so is your butt."

He clears his throat, looking down at his lap.

"Sorry," he says, scratching his ear.

Tony can't help but laugh at Roddie's antics, his shoulders shaking as he leans forward, pressing his forehead against Roddie's shoulder.

"Thanks," he says after a moment, breathless from laughter, "I'm glad to know my butt is... in the right place?" He repeats with a raised eyebrow, doing a passable impression of Roddie's accent. He kisses Roddie again, more deeply, feeling a shiver of emotion in his chest.

"I mean it... thank you."

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