It seemed like Pel wasn’t the only anxious one, and that quelled a little of Pel’s nerves, shoring up his resolve.
“No, no,” Pel said, gesturing. “Just sit down.”
Tor did as instructed, choosing the couch with space for two, and Pel sat next to him, angling himself so that he could look at Tor and judge his responses.
“Explain to me what you were thinking,” he demanded. “Because nothing that I come up with is very nice.”
Tor’s face twisted into one of distress, his blue eyes sad. “It’s so incredibly foolish. I’m embarrassed even to think it now. I don’t know how I couldn’t have realized how it would look to you. I’msosorry. It wasn’teverabout winning, I swear to you.”
Pel blew out a breath. “I didn’t really think that, not for more than a minute or two when I was, you know, seething and irrational.”
Tor’s lips half tipped up again, but he didn’t say anything.
“Well?” Pel pressed.
Tor drew in a breath, looked anywhere but at him for a moment, and then met his gaze.
“The first part of the competition, we were adversaries. It was for show, but it suddenly popped into my head how amazing it would be to demonstrate what we could dotogether. I didn’t think about how it would look to you or how it undermined that part of the competition being purely skill-based and non-magical. I just got all excited about the idea of your archery and my magic working together, how we could accomplish a feat that neither of us could manage on our own.” He cleared his throat, his eyes dropping. “That’s what I was thinking.”
Pel stared at him, stunned.That’s what he’d been thinking?
Tor should still really have thought about how Pel would feel about the inclusion of magic, but… it was the best reason, really. And not something Pel would have considered in a million years.
He realized he was still staring when Tor looked up and finally met his eyes again.
“I’m so sorry,” he repeated. “I didn’t mean to make it terrible for you. I wanted this to be the best day.”
Pel continued to stare at Tor as he gazed so earnestly at Pel, and he realized that wasexactlywhat Tor had intended. He’d wanted to give Pel a chance to show off, and then at the last minute, it had occurred to him that they could show off together.
Pel still thought society put too much stock in strong magic, but it also said something aboutPelthat he’d never considered a benign explanation. Tor had wanted to link them together—and no one had wanted to do that since Pel had Manifested as Unremarkable at sixteen.
Pel sucked in a breath and said a little unsteadily, “That’s probably the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
Tor’s eyes snapped to his face. “I made you miserable!”
“I refused to listen to your explanation,” Pel pointed out. “As you might have noticed, I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder when it comes to magic.”
Tor snorted and then tried to look contrite, and Pel found his lips tipping up in a smirk.
Tor smiled back at him, a growing incandescence that called to Pel like nothing else. Before he knew what he was doing, he found that he’d leaned over and pressed his lips to Tor’s.
There was a still moment where Pel nearly panicked, but then Tor was kissing him back, lips warm and firm against his, everything that Pel wanted. There was no alcohol on the man’s breath this time, and it was definitely a more pleasant experience, but—
There was no alcohol.
Pel pulled back.
“You haven’t been drinking,” he blurted.
Tor looked at him with confusion, and then his face blanched, and he leaned back, away from Pel. “And I swore I wouldn’t ever do that again. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable!”
Pel blinked at him, confused. Slowly, he said, “I’m pretty sure I’m the one who kissed you.”
Tor stared at him, a furrow forming in his brow before he agreed, “Right. You did.” He hesitated for a beat. “Why?”
There was no way Pel was answeringthatquestion, so he countered with, “Why did you kiss me back?”
Tor looked confused again. “Because I wanted to?”
