Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Truce

Leander was looking at the flowers in amazement. No one, but his mother, had ever brought him flowers when he was at the hospital. He reached out a hand towards them and Dorian placed them in it.

"I picked them up myself," Dorian boasted, glad that Morris had been entirely ignored. Morris, who was sitting next to him, stood silently. He should have gone with the flowers. Should have gone out to the meadows around Huergaz and picked up something nice and yellow for Leander.

While Morris was beating himself up, Leander had brought the flowers to his nose. He took a whiff, then another. He blinked. They didn't smell of anything.

"Do you like them?" Dorian asked, having noticed Leander's perplexed look.

"They are fine. For how beautiful they are, I am surprised that they don't have a scent," Morris mentally cheered as Dorian wilted. Dorian had gone and brought Leander, scentless flowers. Something you would give an annoying relative or a teacher you don't like.

"I brought you something, too," Morris extended his hand so that the box was closer to Leander, and he raised the bag with the bottles a little. "Something useful."

"You shouldn't have," Leander placed the flowers on the nightstand by the bed and took the box. He undid the ribbon carefully, placing it on the nightstand too. Then he opened the box and looked even more perplexed than when he had found out the flowers had no scent.

"A ball? Thank you, Morris, but what is it for?" Morris grinned. Now was his chance to dazzle Leander.

"Well, you wanted to exercise. But, you can't right now. So, I got you this ball. You can train your arm's reflexes with it. Throw it up and catch it! It even smells of oranges," Morris chanced a look at Dorian, who was looking at his feet.

Leander threw the ball, but it bounced off his hand before he could catch it, and it rolled on the floor.

"Uhm, I don't think I am good enough to use it — yet. But thank you all the same," Morris bent down to pick up the ball. It was all still ok. He had a second gift.

"Try the lemonade. I picked it up from a stand ran by a little elf girl," Morris took one bottle, opened it, and handed it to Leander who had propped himself up in the bed.

The blonde healer took a sip and then made a face.

"I don't think I have ever tasted anything as sour," Leander commented, and Morris blinked. He took out his bottle and opened it too, and then he drank.

He nearly spat out the drink. It tasted too sour by far. This was not lemonade; this was freshly squeezed lemon juice! Morris coughed a bit and placed his bottle on the nightstand, next to Leander's.

"It was good of you to come," Leander was looking at them both with shining eyes and a smile so broken, Morris's heart clenched.

"Hey, what are friends for?" Dorian asked, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. He reached out and took Leander's hand in his and gently massaged it with his thumb. "Leander, I have been thinking..."

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"Dorian, a minute, please. I just remembered something you have to know," Morris said sternly, and Dorian gave him his best glare.

"Can't it wait?" Morris shook his head, and Dorian sighed. He needed this spot on the party. And, if Morris decided to be petty and leave it, then it would be just him and Leander. But, maybe, he could still make it work with just the two of them.

 Leander knew his way around spells. He could turn harmless spells into things that could kill a boss mob. The only thing Dorian would need to do was keep him safe.

Still, he would listen to what Morris had to say. He owed him at least this much for letting him be a part of his and Leander's party. Dorian reluctantly let go of Leander's hand and followed Morris out.

"We can't make him choose," Morris stated after a long minute of silence. "It will tear him apart."

"What do you mean?" Because, if Morris told Dorian that they had to stop pursuing Leander, Dorian was going to show him the middle finger.

"He is fragile, emotionally. He told me he had been overweight all his life. People like that don't have many friends, if at all," Dorian nodded. He hadn't thought of that.

"Are you telling me that if we ask him to choose, he is not going to choose either of us, so he won't lose us as friends?" Morris nodded. He had had a fat best friend growing up, both of them loners who found comfort in being together. So, he knew all the quirks of people like that.

"Would it be so bad if we share? I mean, if our feelings are genuine and not just crushes born out of admiration, then, surely, we can make it work," at Morris's suggestion Dorian looked down at his hands.

Sure, he had begun to look more at Leander after the blonde had killed the giant rat. Before that, Leander had just been a friend. A dependable, kind, friend, who always had time for him and Morris.

Did he want to lose that friendship? When it could grow into something more? He looked at Morris. Morris, who had been just a partner before. He had his good qualities too. He was outgoing and always cheerful.

To share Leander with the ginger meant to be with him, too. Dorian asked himself if it could be that bad. There were things he would never let himself do with Leander. Things Morris might even welcome. Like competing with him and late-night spars until first blood.

"If he gives any signs that he doesn't want to be in a triangle, we will both back off," Dorian stated and Morris nodded. The two entered the room again, watching as Leander forced himself to drink the lemonade.

"You don't have to," Morris began, but Leander shook his head.

"It is good for weight loss, and you must have known that to bring it. I don't want to let your good intentions go to waste," Dorian saw that the flowers were in a vase and went to the bag. Morris handed him the last bottle, and they all began to make faces as they drank. Morris vowing to teach the little girl how to make actual lemonade. 

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