“Shafir! It’s almost time for dinner!” The smell of autumn was crisp and musky-sweet. It only stressed the smell of his mother’s cooking from that evening. Shafir turned to look at his mother, who stood in the doorway of the little home. She was cleaning her hands on her apron and her warm smile glowed. 

“Yes, mama!” Shafir turned back around and his tiny hands held the rough leather-covered hilt of the sword. It was small and not extremely heavy. Their fathers often gave just a small sword to young boys. Though it was still harder to use than his old wooden sword, he was bigger now! So Shafir’s father had given him the same training sword he used when he was young. Dark, calloused hands wrapped around Shafir’s own, helping him lift the sword. His father’s hands were warm, just like the man himself. The gentle touch redirected his grasp, teaching him how to properly hold the dangerous weapon. 

“Shafir is going to be a skilled knight one day, don’t you think honey?” Shafir’s mother spoke once again, a tray of fresh bread in her hands, trying to entice the two to hurry. Shafir’s father loved his mother’s bread. It was the one thing he always made jokes about, saying that he would fight hundreds of knights just so that he would get a taste of her bread. In a way, that was just what he did when he swore to marry her. 

“He will be a pride for the House of Honors.” Though muffled and unrecognizable to Shafir, now it was clear what had been spoken. When he looked up at his father, the face he once knew well and saw every day was clouded. He knew his father had looked so much like him it hurt his mother after his passing, but how long had it been since the last time he could remember his father’s face? The death of his father was one he looked on without hate, even if the event extremely saddened him, as it was as honorable as any knight could be. The man protected the people he cared about from some true evil in the world and he did so even after he retired. 

“... ir… Shafir.” 

Rough shaking of Shafir’s shoulders caused the dream to shift and sway. Soon the browns and reds of the trees’ leaves swirled into the color of white office walls. The familiar smell of his mother’s cooking and leaves dissipated to the smell of paper and ink. Shafir could hear a deep voice calling out his name and he groaned at the disruption. When his eyes focused on the figure in front of him, all he could see was the blue of his captain’s eyes. He felt himself being drawn to them and when he realized what he was doing; he pulled away. Had he never noticed that Eliqinor’s eyes were so blue? Well… That was the least of his worries, as Eliqinor was uncomfortably close. 

With the speed of light, Shafir threw his arms out, shoving Eliqinor away from him. There was no way he was going to be that close to this idiot and especially not when he had such a warm feeling flowing through him. A loud thud accompanied Eliqinor’s large body hitting the floor and with the blanket still half strewn across him, Shafir jumped onto the other elf’s form. His breath was heavy and he could feel Eliqinor’s muscles tense under him. Shafir had never gotten the jump on the other like this before and it caused blood to rush to his head, making him slightly dizzy. He brought back his fist and connected it with Eliqinor’s face. Perhaps this was too close to how Shafir felt in his dreams. The rush of fear caused him to act, and he brought his fist back again. 

Two hands landed on top of Shafir’s thighs and he knew if he punched Eliqinor again, there was no going back from it. A thud resounded in the room as Shafir narrowly missed Eliqinor’s face and landed on the floor beside him. With his chest heaving in exasperation, it made the burn of Eliqinor’s hands only more prevalent. His muscles were screaming at him and it stoked the fire within. He needed to stop. He needed to get off Eliqinor and run. Shafir leaned forward and-

Wrangling his emotions and thoughts under control, Shafir pried Eliqinor’s hands from his thighs. Which, thankfully, took little effort as the other didn’t put up much of a fight. Eliqinor’s hands were not welcome, but they were warm. Shafir shook his head and just as quickly as he had pounced on Eliqinor, he got off of him. The inferno Eliqinor’s hands and waist had left through Shafir’s clothes radiated through his body, warming him to an alarming degree. It tingled and Shafir hated it. There was no way any sane person would enjoy such a sweltering heat like that. Though jumping on Eliqinor was also not his best idea and not the best position for punching someone. 

Shafir turned as soon as he got off the other. He had to collect himself before speaking and tweaking his appearance with his hands. He hoped he looked fine. His hair was better aligned, though not as neat as usual, and his cloth tunic had to be pulled down once more as it had rumpled under his leather one during the fray. He stood with his back to Eliqinor, waiting for any kind of backlash, but nothing came. Shafir thought Eliqinor might have been waiting for when the other was least expecting it, but Shafir hoped it would come sooner than later. When nothing happened, he looked around and saw that Eliqinor was still lying on the ground. His face was red from where Shafir had initially hit him, but it seemed to spread over the entirety of his face and ears. Eliqinor said nothing or moved, just staring blankly at the ceiling like he was thinking something over and that made Shafir nervous. 

“I apologize for acting rashly. You were so close-” A noise distracted Shafir from his train of thought and rubbed the back of his neck. Perhaps if he could blame the head fog, he got from first waking up he could avoid a lecture. It wasn’t often he apologized, if ever, and he felt awkward doing so. A grunt and then the vision of Eliqinor shifting into a sitting position made Shafir realize how hard he had thrown the other. If it didn't hurt, then it at least stung to be pushed to the ground with such force. With little effort, Eliqinor pulled himself from the ground and rolled his shoulders, a light popping sound accompanying the action. His lip had swollen and a bit of blood began pooling out. Shafir had punched him so hard it split his lip. Dread washed over Shafir as he watched Eliqinor wipe the blood from his lip. This hadn’t been his intention now and- Eliqinor lifted his hand and made a stop sign with it. Perhaps it had been to shut the other up so he wouldn’t put his foot in his mouth. 

“It is fine. The one who should apologize is me. I surprised you and, like a well-trained knight, you acted accordingly by protecting yourself.” With a heavy sigh, Eliqinor made his way back to his desk, his hand pressed firmly to his lip where the wound kept bleeding. Reports and requests still piled high were back to being attended to by Eliqinor when he heavily sat in his chair. The groaning of the wood was a bit concerning, but something else had Shafir’s attention. He had never seen such a dazed expression on the other’s face before. It was as if the captain was in a faraway place and Shafir couldn’t bring himself to reach out to him. 

I'm sure it's nothing… Shafir had got himself settled back on the couch and pulled himself together to focus on his paperwork. Sometimes using work to distance one from things was good. Right? Well, even if it wasn't, it was the only option he had at the moment. 

“Are you alright?” Eliqinor’s voice rang out from behind the piles of paperwork, the muffled sound of the stamping of reports drew Shafir out of his worry for the captain. Whatever was on Eliqinor’s mind wasn’t as important to him as his job. 

"I'm fine," Shafir answered dismissively as he looked over his papers. Mostly reports about smaller things that were less likely to need Eliqinor's approval were sent to him. Things like requests for short leaves of absence by one knight or even ones that asked for approval to put on demonstrations for certain towns. The knights loved to see the faces of kids when they saw the demonstrators. When he was a kid, he also loved them. It helped that they had a group of knights who were most skilled in the performance arts. 

Paperwork was not fun, but Shafir hadn't intended to slack off and not do anything earlier, but he hadn't been sleeping well lately. The office seemed to be the only place he had for respite because here was where he was less likely to be plagued by his nightmares. Though he didn't know why, if he closed his eyes for a few seconds to relax, he would soon fall asleep. He didn't mean for it to end up that way, but more times than not, that was how it ended up. Thankfully, he could wake up quickly and leave Eliqinor none of the wiser. 

"You fell asleep again." Eliqinor knew how to ruin a perfect silence and how to ruffle Shafir's feathers. Of course, he knew he fell asleep and there was no need for the captain to tell him this. The incident from before was proof enough of Shafir's guilt, so this was probably how Eliqinor planned to get back at him for hitting him. Shafir felt awkward as he had once said before when he fell asleep that Eliqinor should've woken him. That was before he knew it would devolve into a fistfight. Shafir had his pride and Eliqinor said that it was his fault for surprising Shafir. So it most definitely was Eliqinor's fault for getting so close to him!

Why did he think it was proper to even get that close? What if Eliqinor had done that to someone who liked him? They could have stolen that opportunity to do something immoral, like stealing a kiss from the captain. Not that Shafir could see himself doing such a thing because he only felt hatred towards Eliqinor. The thought almost made him gag. 

"Ah, mind your own business." Shafir felt his mind slipping and thinking about Katar. If Eliqinor had done that to Katar, would he have shamelessly devoured Eliqinor? No. That should be the last thing I'm thinking about at work. Shafir gripped the paper in his hand tightly, having to reread it twice as it plagued his mind with the images of that redhead kissing Eliqinor. 

"Are you not sleeping well?" Eliqinor's voice pulled Shafir out of his thoughts and he felt his face heat in shame. They had been carrying out a conversation and all he could think of was how he was putting his nose in his captain's business. Which he remembered saying he would never do. Shafir regained his composure before clearing his throat and going back to work. 

"I'm sleeping just fine. It is just a pain that this office is so far from my home. Giving the old one to the academy was a mistake." Shafir had to make up some kind of reason he was dozing off all the time. To let Eliqinor know it was from nightmares would make Shafir look ridiculous, like an elfling who wet his bed. Perhaps that statement was dramatic, but it was close enough to what he imagined would run through the captain's head. 

"Are you saying the office's location is making things harder for you?" Eliqinor peered over the paperwork at Shafir. Who was delicately picking up his stack of papers to reorganize them without making a colossal mess. Of course, that was what he was trying to imply, and it seemed Eliqinor fell for it. While he wasn't the best at lying, he appeared to have enough skill to pull the wool over Eliqinor's eyes. 

"Missions in the morning, paperwork all day, and then more paperwork in the evening. By the time I'm done with all my reports, it's already dark out. Now imagine how long it takes to walk home." Shafir didn't have the luxury of staying wherever he wanted. Eliqinor, being the captain, had his fancy room that wasn't far from the office while Shafir had to either stay in the barracks or stay in the vice-captain's quarters, which were uncomfortably close to Eliqinor's room. Shafir took the option of neither and rented a place on the other side of town and got as far away from his captain as possible. 

"There is no need to overwork yourself and stay late." Eliqinor stamped a paper loudly, and that drew Shafir's attention to his face. He longer looked dazed but seemed more intrigued by what the dark elf had to say, no doubt reveling in Shafir's torture of possibly being worked to death. "I can always finish your reports." 

"I'm not giving you a reason to say I'm slacking off! Honestly, if the office had a nice place to sleep, then I would be fine!" Shafir threw his arms in the air in exasperation to show how ridiculous this place was. It wasn't so small that they couldn't move around, but being in such a small place with that buffoon he called a captain would wear thin on anyone's sanity! Plus, Eliqinor was always watching him like a hawk, and the only reason he knew was he could feel it. It made his skin burn up with rage until his face was red and his breath heavy. 

"You could always stay with m-" Eliqinor was quickly interrupted when Shafir slammed his hands down on the table, causing the vice-captain's papers to sway precariously. 

"I'm not taking advice from you! Rich nobles like you throw coins around until things go your way!" Shafir grumbled and went back to work, ignoring anything that came from Eliqinor's mouth. Fuck him and his privileged ass. "If I had half the money you did, I would've built a room onto this dump. This way ONE of us could get a good night's sleep while the other was a workaholic," Eliqinor nodded as Shafir spoke as if he was listening. Fat chance. If Shafir wanted a good night's sleep, he would just have to wait until he could get his nightmares to stop.