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The Dogwoods King and his loyal Hand were at the front of the tunnel, travelling side by side. Following closely behind them was an army, including their most trusted knights. The tunnel was dimly lit and deadly silent apart from the shuffling of armoured feet. This tunnel would lead them into the heart of The Flower Valley Kingdom, where they would plan their attack with the resistance leader and take down the corrupt king. Overall, Ren was feeling good about this plan. The enemy had no idea they were coming, and most of the people within their enemy’s walls were on their side. He was confident that they would win and come back home victorious.
The King paused and raised his arm to signal to his men to stop walking upon spotting the orange glow of a torch being waved in the distance.
“D’you think that’s him?” Martyn asked in a low voice.
“Could be,” Ren replied, just as low, “Or we’ve been compromised, stay on guard.”
Martyn nodded, resting a hand on his sword, ready to strike. Ren did the same, keeping his breath steady. Their army behind them followed suit, tense and ready.
The torch drifted closer towards them, flames dancing in the air, and revealed a young man with dirty blond hair and warm brown eyes. The man wore a red, white and blue knitted jumper underneath clearly hand-made armour, nothing a knight of the Flower Valley King would be seen wearing. So this was the resistance leader they were promised to meet; ‘Solidarity’. He was younger than Ren expected, although the youngsters do tend to be the ones to take charge and try to change the unfair system they’ve been raised in, so maybe Ren shouldn’t have been that surprised. Ren was about to introduce himself when Martyn spoke up.
“Timmy?”
The younger man turned towards Martyn in confusion before his face morphed into shocked recognition, “Martyn?”
Martyn laughed in disbelief before pulling the taller man (Timmy, was it?) into a tight hug, causing Timmy’s torch to slip out of his grasp, the flame extinguishing as it hit the ground. Timmy returned the hug after a moment of surprise, smiling into Martyn’s shoulder. Martyn wasn’t a touchy person, it took a few weeks for him to return Ren’s physical affections and that’s only when they started being romantically involved, before Martyn avoided touching him if he could help it. So seeing his love immediately embrace who Ren thought was a stranger stirred some jealousy within him. Fortunately, BigB speaking interrupted the newfound feeling.
“Jimmy?” (It wasn’t Timmy? Did Ren mishear his name?)
Jimmy (Timmy?) looked up from Martyn’s shoulder, “ B?? Oh my gosh- ” and let go of Martyn just to hug the soft-spoken knight with a giggle instead. BigB returned it, a small smile on his lips.
Ren moved to stand beside Martyn once more, “I’m guessing you know this man, Hand? As well as you, Sir BigB?”
“We do,” Martyn grinned as BigB hummed and nodded. Timmy (Jimmy?) let go of BigB, eyes widened as he faced Ren, “Sir? Hand?”
It turned out Jimmy ( not Timmy, that was just a nickname Martyn had coined) Solidarity was a childhood friend of both Martyn and BigB. They grew up in an orphanage together. Jimmy had been adopted by a couple from a faraway kingdom when they had just turned teenagers, causing the three boys to separate. Martyn had left as soon as he was old enough to travel, leading him into Ren’s kingdom (and his arms). BigB had been the only one to stay behind in their small village, and would likely have still been there had Martyn not come back for him with a job offer as one of the King’s knights. The latter being what Ren already knew from Martyn.
Jimmy had been impressed by his childhood friend's high job positions, considering they didn’t have much in the way of education. “Is Grian with you guys?” Jimmy had asked, sounding hopeful. Ren made a mental note of the name. There had been four of them then.
Martyn shook his head, “Haven’t seen him since he ran away.” BigB hummed in agreement, sounding sad.
Disappointment briefly flickered across Jimmy’s face before he went back to smiling, “Well, at least you guys are here and-oh, I’m so sorry!” Jimmy quickly bowed before Ren, “Your Highness, I-”
“None of that,” Ren interrupted, “You’re already familiar with my Hand and Sir BigB, just call me Ren.”
Jimmy looked surprised, “Ren, okay, we better get going. Scott’s probably getting worried, I’ll explain everything on the way-”
“Scott? Who’s that?” Martyn questioned. Ren was also curious, he hadn’t named anyone specific from their letter correspondences. He had thought he’d been working alone until Solidarity mentioned some able-bodied villagers to help with digging the tunnel.
“Ah,” Jimmy looked sheepish, “I, uh, kind of got married?”
BigB made a noise of wonder as Martyn’s jaw dropped, “You what?? ”
—
Ren let the three reunited childhood friends walk ahead, letting them catch up from their years apart. Jimmy could always give him the run-down when they reached the resistance leader's main base. Although they were quite a few feet ahead of him, he could still hear some smattering of conversation. Ren tried his best to tune it out to give them some privacy, but he was curious about Martyn’s friend.
Jimmy had been adopted by a pair of fishermen. Being an only child, his father's had taught him everything one needed to know to be a fisherman. Unfortunately, they had passed during a boating accident when he was eighteen, so that left the fishing business all to himself. Things had been unremarkable for a few years until a potion maker had settled down and set up shop nearby Jimmy’s fishery. That had been Scott. The two had quickly struck up a friendship, what with their establishments being so near each other. Scott had gifted Jimmy with free healing potions with how clumsy he could be with fishing equipment, and Jimmy had gifted him a pufferfish as a pet. One thing led to another, and Jimmy walked into Scott’s shop with a bouquet of poppies and a confession. Martyn had teased Jimmy for how sappy he was as BigB watched on with a chuckle at Jimmy’s indignant squawks, but Ren thought the story was sweet.
Eventually, they arrived at the end of the tunnel. The stairway made of hardened dirt led them upwards towards a closed wooden cellar door. Jimmy, who had been the one in front, knocked a short tune onto it, the wood creaking with the sudden pressures. A few seconds went by before they heard the click of a lock and the door swung open, revealing a man with cyan hair and eyes to match.
“Scott!” Jimmy said and reached out his hand, Ren could hear the smile in his voice.
The man, Scott, (Jimmy’s husband, Ren assumed, unless there was another man named Scott running around) returned the smile and gripped Jimmy’s outreached hand, and helped him out of the hole.
The Dogwoods King as well as his Hand and many knights climbed their way out of the hole, a little undignified but a few specks of dirt were worth it if it meant they remained undetected. He surveyed the underground chambers littered with torches and campfires and spotted quite a few villagers milling about. A few were mining away at resources from the walls and dragging the ores toward some burly weaponsmiths and armourers as they made weapons and armour out of the iron and few diamonds before they handed them out, some villagers practising with wooden swords and shields on hastily made dummies and each other. Ren also saw some farmers tending a hastily grown carrot field, flinging the grown vegetables into buckets as another took from them and infused them with gold nuggets the miners provided. Chickens clucked as feathers were plucked from them and made into arrows by fletchers. The organisation and preparation was impressive.
“Tim really grew up, huh,” Martyn murmured, BigB hummed in agreement. Speaking of the man. Jimmy made his way towards them after all the knights had exited the tunnel, Scott right beside him.
“Everyone,” Jimmy started, sounding a little shy, “My husband, Scott Smajor.”
Scott dipped into a dramatic bow, voice overly polite,“Pleased to meet your acquaintance, Your Majesty.”
Ren chuckled, “No need for formalities, just Ren, is fine. We’re on equal grounds here.”
“Oh, thank gods. I thought you were going to be an uptight-”
“ Scott. ”
“What? I wasn’t gonna say anything rude .”
“Yes you were, I know you.”
Scott was about to reply when Martyn cut in, “Alright lovebirds, pack it in,” Jimmy’s face flushed in embarrassment as Scott looked amused, “We have a battle to win.”
Jimmy nodded as he composed himself, “Right. There are some things we need to discuss,” He turned to BigB and the rest of the knights, “In private, sorry B.”
“That’s alright,” BigB said, unbothered.
“Follow us.”
Ren obeyed, Martyn close behind as the rest of his knights stayed behind and followed the couple into a corner where a wooden door was embedded in the smooth stone wall. Jimmy opened the door, revealing a small room, the far wall covered in oak signs highlighted with dye and scraps of papers, all of which were connected with string. In the middle of the room was a rounded table with brewing stands being used, smoke rising from the glowing potion bottles. There was also a cake which was nervously being picked apart by an old, sophisticated-looking librarian. They straightened up upon seeing the men enter, wringing their hands nervously.
“This is Benjamin,” Scott introduced, “They're one of the king’s advisors who’s agreed to spy for us, and they managed to discover something… disturbing.”
Ren wasn’t sure what he was expecting to hear, but it certainly wasn’t this.
“Necromancy?!” he shouted, outraged, once Benjamin had excused themself from the room, “He’s killing his own people and bringing them back?”
“He’s creating his own army, one that can’t die,” Martyn muttered, “He’ll be unstoppable.”
“That’s why we contacted you!” Jimmy said, eyes hopeful, “I looked into your ancestry-”
“You did what?”
“-and I found that the Red King managed to bring himself back from the dead -”
“Jimmy, love,” Scott whispered, as Ren’s face began to turn pale, but Jimmy was on a roll.
“We just need to know what killed him, permanently , and we’ll be good!”
“I don’t know what killed him,” Ren said, voice strained. The following silence was deafening.
“What?” Jimmy frowned, “but, he’s your ancestor, how could you not know?”
“Jimmy,” Scott placed a calming hand on his husband’s shoulder, voice soft, “He doesn't know.”
“I know what he said, it just doesn’t-”
Rapid knocking at the door interrupted him.
“Solidarity? There’s been some upset between-”
“I’m on it!” Jimmy called back, starting to leave the room before he stopped and pointed an accusing finger in Ren’s direction, “We’re continuing this later. Come on, Scott.”
“Alright.”
Jimmy left the door, clearly annoyed, and Scott followed, shooting Ren an apologetic look.
Ren groaned as he placed his head in his hands, canine ears folded back in distress.
“Well,” Martyn started, leaning against the table next to his king, “That could have gone worse.”
“Could have gone better,” Ren raised his head from his hands, “If not for my stupid memory.”
“Hey, none of that.”
Ren sighed, “I mean he’s right, I should know this, shouldn’t I? It’s basic history.”
“Not to me, didn’t even know he existed before I found your kingdom.” Martyn carefully placed his hand at the base of Ren’s ear, stroking lightly, “Thought your ears were a costume for a while.”
Ren’s mouth twitched into a smile as he leaned into the touch, his eyes closing, “I thought you were awfully touchy of them.”
Martyn hummed as he continued his ministrations, “Was there really no mention of how he died?”
Ren thought for a moment, “My father believed he was so ashamed of what he became that he ended his own life.”
“Don’t suppose we could guilt a whole army into offing themselves, by chance?”
Ren huffed out a laugh. His shoulders untensed slightly as Martyn continued running his fingers through his hair. He always relaxed after being petted, even as a child. Something to do with his canine ancestry, he supposed. He remembered coming across his father combing through his mother’s hair often as a pup. He always felt embarrassed and quickly left when he caught them like that, despite the fact nothing inappropriate was going on. It seemed so intimate, and he thought himself an intruder to that. He wondered if Goldie had similar thoughts when she saw them together like this?
He wished… he really wished his parents had got to meet her, to meet Martyn. Unfortunately, illness took his father away and his mother was soon to follow due to the grief. They spent a lot of time together in those last few weeks, mostly in his parent's quarters. He remembered being in front of the fireplace, his mother clutching him close as the healers pumped his father with regeneration potions to combat the sickness decaying his body. She told him stories of her parents and her parents parents, stories of an ocean with a missing queen, stories of witches with a range of magic at their disposal, stories of desert people that fought against an undead king-
Ren's eyes shot open in shocked realisation, “Fire.”
Martyn paused his hand movements, “What?”
Ren moved, dislodging Martyn’s hand from his hair, to face him,“ ‘The heat of the arrows, hot as the sun that shone on the sand, melted the rotten flesh from the undead king’ ”
Martyn raised an eyebrow.
“It’s from a story my mother used to tell me,” Ren explained, mouth widening into a grin as his mind formulated a plan, “I didn’t think much of it at the time, but there must be some truth to it. We’ll have the men enchant the swords with fire aspect and the bows with flame! We’ll attack from the shadows, the dead can’t see well with rotted eyes.”
He looked back at Martyn for validation for his plan, only to find his hand sharing his grin, eyes alight with fiery joy. The sight was so beautiful that Ren couldn’t help but to draw him close and kiss him. Martyn responded in kind, hands returning to his king’s hair.
Their private moment was interrupted with the sound of the door being opened.
“Oh!” Jimmy exclaimed, “I did not need to see that.”
Ren immediately jerked out of Martyn’s hold, face reddened in embarrassment. Martyn just looked disappointed.
Scott laughed, “Like we haven’t done the same?”
“That, is different,” Jimmy huffed, his eyes narrowed as he looked at Ren. It felt like he was sizing him up.
“You’ll take care of him?” Jimmy asked. Martyn scoffed from beside Ren, “I can take care of myself, Timmy.”
The sudden clarity that Jimmy was judging him as a romantic partner for Martyn hit him, and he blurted out, “If it comes down to it, I will trade my life for his.”
Jimmy smiled approvingly as Scott let out an ‘awe’. Martyn looked at Ren, surprised.
“A-anyway,” Ren continued, “I have a plan.”
—
Darkness fell as the Dogwoods King moved in near silence between the homes of those that lived in the Flower Valley Kingdom, creeping closer to the backdoor of its castle. His Hand close behind him, along with a handful of their soldiers. The rest should be at various entrances of the royal residence while its citizens focused on protecting each other, King’s orders. While the people could defend themselves well, they only had months of training, while his army had years. He didn’t want to risk any civilian casualties if he could help it.
Jimmy and Scott had protested the orders and Ren had relented, letting them join a group each as long as they promised not to do anything reckless. They were still a fisherman and a potion maker at the end of the day, not seasoned soldiers.
“I don’t think your advisors would approve of you dying in my stead.”
The King’s eyes darted to his Hand, “Well, they can’t yell at me if I’m dead.”
“Ren.”
“I trust you with my kingdom.”
Martyn let out a sigh, both frustrated and fond. It always surprised Martyn, how much his King cared about him, trusted him, loved him to the point he puts his life above his own. He’s still not entirely sure what he’s done to deserve such affection from him. Still, the thought of Ren dying and it being Martyn’s fault, even if he wasn’t the one to deal the blow, if he was too slow or too distracted and then-
He really would prefer not to lose Ren is the thing, and so.
“Goldie would be quite upset, I think.”
Ren turned his head to fully face Martyn, his brow furrowed as if he’d just considered this possibility, “That’s- she’d still have you.”
“I think she’d rather have both of us,” Martyn gripped Ren’s hand, “So how about we keep our lives instead of trading them off? For her?”
Ren squeezed his hand back and nodded, smiling, “Yes, for her.”
Martyn returned his smile before he let go of his hand and, with a final lingering look between them, entered the castle.
—
All things considered, it was going well, a little too well. The undead soldiers, once struck with the arrows from their enchanted bows, immediately burst into flames. Their flesh melted and bones crumbled until there was nothing but a pile of armour and ash left discarded on the stone floor. The smell of burnt dead flesh filled their nostrils. The few that failed to be killed by the arrows were stabbed by his men’s enchanted swords, burning them from the inside out until they met the fate of their comrades.
It wasn’t a difficult fight, the dead had slow reflexes and their regenerative abilities were made useless thanks to the magic that covered their weapons, so the king and his hand forged on ahead to cut the head off the snake.
As they rushed through the halls towards the throne room, where the wicked king spent the majority of his days, Ren could hear the distant sounds of battling. The roaring of the living as they fought against the wailing of the dead. The wailing was starting to wane as the roaring only grew louder and victorious.
“We’re winning,” Martyn grinned at him.
“We haven’t won yet, my hand,” Ren said, and with that, they stormed the throne room to confront the necromantic king.
As soon as they entered the room, both men gagged as they were hit with a wave of nausea as the smell of rotten flesh increased, the air thick with death. In the middle of the room, an old man swallowed in royal clothing was hunched over on the floor, whimpering in pain. His skin was as pale as the paper Goldie drew on, his hair grey with age and when he looked up to face them, he was gaunt and his eyes were bloodshot and sickly. This man was supposed to be in his twenties.
“ You ” he wheezed, pointing an accusatory finger at Ren, “ What have you done? ”
“Nothing, you’ve done this to yourself,” Ren replied as he crept closer to the rapidly aged man. Dark magic didn’t come without its price. It’s why Ren’s family never touched it after the rule of The Red King.
“ No, stop! ” the old king gasped as he attempted to crawl away, “ P-please! I’m sorry! ” he sobbed.
“Too late for that,” Martyn muttered by his side, “Want me to finish him off, my liege?”
“ No”
“No need, my hand, I’ll do it.”
Ren raised his sword towards the disgraced king’s throat, intending to make it a quick death but hesitated as he stared into the old man’s wide and frightened eyes. He sighed, there was no honour in this.
“Withdraw your army,” Ren demanded.
“ What? ”
“Withdraw your undead army, or I’ll kill you.”
The man spluttered but did as demanded, clutching his hands together as he whispered some incantation. The smell of death immediately vanished, and the wailing ceased. With the threat of the dead neutralised, Ren listened as the Dogwoods army charged into the throne room, ready to help their king, only to pause upon see their weakened opponent.
Ren withdrew his sword from the defeated king's throat, sheathing it, and turned to address his hand.
“Apprehend the necromancer, he’ll spend the rest of his days in a cell.”
Martyn frowned, looking apprehensive but obeyed his king’s command. Ren sighed, choosing to turn his back on the two to look more critically at his people for injuries. Everyone seemed to have minimal damage, from what Ren could see, only some cuts and bruises which can easily be treated with a health potion back home. His army mostly looked exhausted from the fight. Skizz was showing off a new scar to Impulse and BigB as Etho talked to the flower husbands. Scott had fewer potions around his belt, and was currently preoccupied using one for Jimmy’s arm. Jimmy must have sensed he was being watched as he looked away from Etho to look at the Dogwoods King, offering him a goofy grin, which Ren was happy to return.
Suddenly, Jimmy’s smile dropped and Ren’s confusion lasted a second before he registered the sound of a scuffle behind him.
“REN, WATCH OUT!”
Time moved slowly as he turned and saw the old king sprinting towards him with a small knife raised with pure rage and hatred in his red eyes. Briefly, he locked eyes with a terrified Martyn, sprawled on the floor. Oh. Ren really hoped Martyn didn’t blame himself for this. Really, it was his fault, turning his back on an enemy after showing them mercy. He’s such an idiot.
Before the knife made contact, a blur of dirty blond hair obscured his vision and he heard a pained gasp as well as a scream from behind him. Without thinking, Ren sidestepped, pulled his sword from its sheath and sliced at his attacker's neck. The old king’s severed head dropped to the floor with a dull thud.
“Jimmy!”
Ren glanced to his side to witness Scott on the floor holding and attempting to soothe a gasping Jimmy close to him, blood oozing from between his fingers at his neck as he tried to keep the blood from flowing.
“Scott, health potion!” Ren called out as he settled on Jimmy’s other side, coaxing him into a more comfortable position. He could hear Martyn murmuring Oh gods, Jimmy behind him.
“R-right.”
Scott pulled out a half-empty health potion and shakily dumped the contents onto Jimmy’s wound. Slowly, the wound stitched itself up, but not fully. Jimmy continued groaning in pain as he only grew paler.
“Scott, we need another-”
“I don’t have any more!” Scott shouted, panicked, “That’s all I had!”
“Okay, okay, we need to move him, how far is your shop?”
“No, Ren - you don’t understand, that’s all I had. ”
“Okay, okay,” he tried to get his thoughts under control, he was a king dammit! People should be able to rely on him, “We take him back to Dogwoods, we have healers there.”
“Will he make it that long?” Tears were beginning to gather in Scott’s eyes.
“We have to try. Martyn help me with him.”
With great effort, both king and hand lifted Jimmy into weakly standing up. Ignoring the blood that pooled onto the floor and the dead man behind them.
—
Goldie awoke to the sound of distant yelling.
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she groggily realised she’d fallen asleep while staring through her bedroom window, looking for any signs that her parents had returned home. Judging from the yelling, something had returned, and she focused her vision to the castle gates.
She could see knights shuffling around like ants holding red banner shields, and she instantly felt wide awake. Her parents were home! That meant Skizz, BigB, Impulse and Etho were too!
She scanned the crowd of knights but could not spot any of them. Dread began to form until she remembered Skizz’s promise. Yeah! They were fine! Goldie just couldn’t see them, that’s all.
She quickly moved from her perch on the window to the door. Really, she should be in bed. It was way past her bedtime, but she couldn’t wait to see Ren and Martyn, as well as the others. It was technically morning anyway, so they can’t really be upset with her for waking up now, even if it was super early.
The small girl slipped out into the unguarded hallway and creeped her downstairs to the entrance of the castle, walking out into the cool early morning air. Her feet sunk slightly into the dirt, she really should have put some shoes on.
Goldie had never seen so many knights in one place before. She squinted at the gathering of knights, trying to find someone familiar, before suddenly being lifted into the air by a strong pair of arms from behind her. She was about to scream until she heard a warm and friendly voice.
“Heya, Goldilocks, aren’t you supposed to be in bed?”
“Skizz!”
Goldie hugged Skizz as he returned it with a chuckle, “Missed you too, kiddo.”
“Where’s everyone else?” she asked.
Skizz shifted Goldie in his hold and pointed towards the crowd. She followed his finger to find Impulse, Etho and BigB in the distance talking. Some bandages littered their skin, but they were alive just like Skizz promised, although.
“Where’s Ren and Martyn?” the dread returned as Skizz winced at her question.
“There’s been a little accident, nothing bad! I promise,” he quickly reassured as he saw her frown, “One of our allies got hurt real bad by jerkface so they’re just making sure he’s okay.”
“Can I see them now?” a pause, “Please?”
“I dunno, it’s pretty late.”
“No, it’s early! Look, the sun’s already awake,” Goldie said, and pointed to the sun peeking out over the horizon.
“Alright, alright, but if they get upset with you for being out of bed, that’s not my fault.”
Skizz, still holding Goldie, made his way towards the medical centre near the barracks. Goldie’s only been there once before to escort Owen there with Eloise, since his leg injury worsened while looking for her in the gardens yesterday. She still feels bad about it.
Soon, they were in front of the doors and Skizz put her down to open the door ajar. She peeked inside and as soon as she laid eyes on her parents, she sprinted into the room towards them. She failed to realise that they weren’t the only ones inside.
“Martyn! Ren!”
Her small body collided with Ren’s side, and she wrapped her arms around him tightly. The hug was short-lived as the king picked the princess up to give her a proper hug.
“My darling girl, I missed you,” he whispered.
Goldie giggled, “Missed you too.”
Having had her fill of Ren hugs, she made grabby hands towards Martyn before a voice she didn’t recognise spoke.
“Uh, excuse me, but who’s this??”
Goldie turned her head to see two men she didn’t know. One of the men had dirty blond hair and was sitting on one of the medical beds with a slightly stained bandage wrapped around his throat. The other man was on the other side of the bed, sitting on a stool, holding the dirty blond man’s hand, they both had matching gold rings. He had cyan hair that reminded her of one of her crayons, but his eyes looked red and puffy. Had he been crying?
“Your hair’s really pretty,” she blurted out in an effort to make him feel better.
“Oh,” he smiled, amused, “Thank you.”
Feeling suddenly shy, Goldie ducked into Ren’s neck, obscuring her vision with his brown hair.
Ren chuckled, and Martyn tapped at her fingers, “It’s okay, love, they’re friends. Do you want to introduce yourself?”
Not wanting to seem rude, she lifted her head from Ren’s shoulder and held her hand out, like she’s seen Ren do when meeting new people.
“‘M Goldie.”
The dirty blond man’s face seemed to grow even more confused as he took her hand in his to give it a small shake. He looked to Martyn for a better explanation.
“She’s our kid,” Martyn deadpanned.
The man with pretty hair snorted as the man with dirty blond hair yelped, “YOU HAVE A KID?!”
—
After Goldie was properly introduced to Scott (pretty hair) and Jimmy (loud), the Dogwoods King, his loyal hand and their princess went to bed. While it was technically morning, Ren and Martyn were exhausted from the previous days of planning and fighting. Goldie just wanted to spend time with them after so many days apart. So they were all huddled together in the king’s quarters.
Jimmy and Scott had returned to the Flower Valley Kingdom, saying they’ll keep them updated. They still had to decide what to do now that they had no one left to rule. Ren suggested that Jimmy and Scott take up the mantel, which had got a few good-natured laughs, although Jimmy’s eyes seemed to shine at the idea. They’ll have to see what they’ve decided. For now, it was time to rest. Martyn had fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Ren would have followed him if it wasn’t for a certain someone.
“Is jerkface really not coming back?” Goldie asked, not for the first time that morning.
Ren huffed a laugh at the name before answering, “He’s not, I made sure of it.”
“Okay.”
Ren closed his eyes to sleep, thinking that was the last of her questioning, before he felt small hands jostling his hand. He opened his eyes to see Goldie inspecting his left hand.
“Alright?”
Goldie hummed as she frowned, “There’s no ring.”
“Pardon?”
Goldie dropped his hand, “Scott and Jimmy have rings.”
“Married people usually do, yes.”
“So why don’t you have one? Aren’t you and Martyn married?”
“I- well. It’s complicated.” The truth is that they never really discussed getting married, despite how long they’ve been together. It had never come up. Although, Ren won’t lie and say he hasn’t thought about it, getting married. But there had always been this fear that Martyn would regret saying ‘yes’.
“It can’t be that complicated,” Goldie said, yawning, “Jimmy ‘n Scott managed to do it.”
“I suppose, I’m just afraid he won’t want to.”
Goldie hummed as she closed her eyes, “You gotta ask, in case he does.”
Ren sighed, thinking about her words. It couldn’t hurt to ask, could it?
“Alright,” he said after a minute, “I’ll ask him.”
Goldie responded with some light snoring, matching Martyn’s own snores.
Ren smiled at the sight and closed his eyes.