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The forest was where Rhiannon found herself dwelling most, but there were times when she went back to the city, and other times when she found herself avoiding the mansion as much as possible, such as when that bat-eared trainee constantly followed her, or when the grating voice of every other cat became a little too overwhelming. The forest was plenty nicer than the city too, she loved the fresh scent of old bracken, the way the moss felt under her paws, and most of all, the fact that this forest felt almost like she was inches away from figuring out what she was here for.
Today, however, she wasn't seeking eternal life. It had been days since she had seen her brother. She knew he was angry. Angry that she lied to him. Angry that she had never told him about her kits. Angry about those months ago, when she had disappeared for a couple of moons before returning as if nothing had happened. Angry over the fight they had back then. Angry over the fight they had right now. She had always played him so smoothly like a fiddle, it was strange to really have to confront that old friend, the consequences of her own actions.
She knew he came here often. As much as they kept to their own, it wasn't like she didn't keep tabs on him, and she knew him better than anyone else did. Whenever he was angry, he'd go off with some tom or two and get totally trashed before coming back. The city always seemed like the perfect place for him, after all; why was he so angry that she deceived him about this place when he had enjoyed it all so much anyway?
Spotting another cat in the distance, she frowned, brow furrowing. "Oi!" she called out to the calico tom. She hadn't seen him before. Either he was a kittypet or she was here to chase off another cat...and to perhaps find a couple of answers as well.
Doe wasn’t looking for Hywel, not exactly. He wasn’t needy - if anything, he was the one playing hard to get. They didn’t have a date scheduled so he had no reason to see the tom - he was just… wandering. So, if on the off chance he ran into him, he could act all haughty and dismissive and in a hurry and pretend he had plenty more important business to get to than stopping to spend time with him. It wasn’t like he wanted to see him. Why would he want to see a bit of fun on the side he was just using for casual enjoyment? Plus, he knew the League had moved back to its boring, ugly old home in the forest, and the last time he’d been here he’d had the unfortunate run-in with Cezra. So it was absolutely plausible that he wasn’t hoping to see Hywel. He was just wandering.
And because he was so caught up in his own grumpy, internal justifications for that wandering, sniffing absently at a sad little potted plant on the bottom step of a staircase in the orange light of the late afternoon, he physically jumped when the she-cat called out to him. He quickly turned around, frowning at her and her bad manners. “Oi yourself,” Doefreckle replied, uncertain and slightly crabby at being diverted from his own not-plans, and especially so rudely. He looked her up and down as she approached, staying put at the foot of the step with his tail waving warily behind him. She smelled vaguely of Hywel, but he supposed most of the League cats did (he felt a treacherous little flutter of jealousy at the thought of the toms Hywel spent his life around and shredded it to bits frustratedly; he didn’t care, let him sleep around, Doe certainly did) - and though he’d caught a slight lilt in her voice from the single word he’d heard, the same as Hywel’s, and he knew he had a sister he’d made out to be quite abrupt, he wasn’t about to assume this stranger was her. So, he just continued to frown at her, looking put-out and faintly cross, like she were an uncouth drop-in who’d come for tea just as he was heading out the door.
They were roughly the same height so he didn’t have to crane his neck up quite as much as he did with most of the toms in his life. That equal height gave Doe a new air - when you were looking down at him, he was soft and cute; when you were at eye-level, he was a vain little minx with sharp teeth and irritated eyes. Especially when he wasn’t being gentle and boyish to appeal to a tom. If you wanted to see how Doe could really be, just watch him with a she-cat he had no interest in.
She wasn't often cruel, but there was certainly an air about her that was different than Hywel. The tom had always been the friendly one, but Rhiannon had always been the one who took life by its reins, who knew exactly who she was and didn't need to be anything else. Her eyes narrowed at the tom. Who was he to give her such an attitude when he was clearly on their territory? Rhiannon didn't claim to own what Primal Instinct owned, but she had never been one to deal with attitude especially given by a cat who didn't even belong here. She'd easily put him in his place the same way she'd reply to the other toms who gave her attitude.
"Shouldn't you be off with your little owners, kittypet?" she snorted. She didn't know whether he was a kittypet or not, but frankly a cat with a paw like that shouldn't be surviving out in the wild. She looked him up and down skeptically as if she was one of the popular girls and he was another nerd who tried to ask her out on some date.
"Just so you know, I think you're in the wrong part of town," she snorted, raising a brow, "best get out of here before you meet someone who likes to drink cat blood." She knew a fair few, after all.
Doe's ears twitched back slightly at the sheer gall of the she-cat, his expression a thousand shades of incensed and taken aback. She was the perfect reminder of why he hated League cats, and why he - generally - made a point of steering clear of them. "Do you see a collar?" he sniped back prissily, taking a small step forward. "Does your nose work? Or is it only good for poking in where it doesn't belong?" When he was younger, Doe had sometimes entertained the thought of running off to be a kittypet; he'd spent some time hanging around houses, and once he'd let a twoleg put him in a little pink sweater. But the acute irritation he felt at being mistaken for one now proved it had only ever been what so much of his life was: whim and fancy.
He let out a little scoff and clicked his tongue, rolling his eyes dismissively. "Oh, please," he replied, turning and hopping up to sit on the sun-warmed step if only because he hoped she'd get the tart implication that this 'conversation' was at a close. "Like Cezra? Or is he the scariest thing you ungroomed ruffians have to offer?"
Maybe it was because she was the younger sibling, or perhaps there was just a part of her that enjoyed chaos, but the more Doefreckle seemed to get annoyed, the more amused she became. If there was one thing she subscribed to here in the league, it was that the more someone showed their annoyance, the more it felt like she was a hunter playing with her prey. Rule number one around here it seemed, was to always make sure no one knew how much you got to them. She had played this game long enough to understand that, and here this cat was, looking rather irritated in the way he snapped back.
Her lips spread into a grin. "Oh so you're not a kittypet?" she blinked, her eyes brimming with that faux innocence that seemed to shine more out of malice than anything else, "oh I'm so sorry, you just looked so out of place, you know. Are you lost?" She gave him a little pout, all condescending and amused, "aw, did you run into the big scary cannibal?" Frankly, she found Cezra somewhat amusing, more so than she found him scary.
At the mention of ungroomed ruffians, her lips broke into a toothy grin, her half-lidded eyes seemed to regard him like he was nothing but a rat you'd watch scutter around the side of the road. "Yer one to talk, love," she hummed, the accent returning in full force, "ye'v got a face like a bulldog lickin' piss off a nettle, callin' me a ruffian. Maybe you should stop scroungin' the streets for scraps before ye go insultin' others."
Oh my God, she was just not leaving him alone. And honestly, if there was one thing Doe was absolutely blind to, it was people winding him up. He just couldn't see it for what it was and would keep rising to the bait over and over and over, getting more and more frustrated and hysterical. Which was pretty funny, considering he took great delight in doing exactly that to other cats, running verbal circles around them and laughing at their ignorance because it meant he was so much cleverer and wittier.
"Yees," Doe replied as he leaned down towards her, eyes big and voice slow, like he was speaking to a complete idiot. He nodded slowly along with his own words. "Well, I would hope I look out of place - I wouldn't want to look like a raggedy little tart who can't make enough on the street corner to afford a proper bath." He sat back as he spoke, brows quirked up snottily, the slowness in his voice replaced by sharpness as he flicked his good forepaw at her.
And then she was laying on the accent - and Doe wished to hell he could play the confused card and just pretend he didn't understand a word she said, but his time around Hywel meant his ear was tuned to it. Well, most of it. A word here or there still slipped through. His eyes widened in shock and horror, his jaw falling open slightly. "Do I look like I'm scrounging for scraps?" he snapped back, the fur along his shoulders starting to spike indignantly as he leaped to his paws to stare down at her - if Rhi was aiming for hysteria, she was very nearly there. His voice was starting to get higher.
Her eyes seemed to widen almost impossibly so, so grey and wide it looked like a full moon as she stared at him, before breaking out into laughter. A tart? Was that all toms could make fun of? Her decision to have a good lay once in a while? Surely she should've been more offended too, especially now when the consequences of her own actions were biting her tail, and perhaps they would've if his expression didn't look so mortified at the fact that she was implying the exact same. The way his fur puffed out made him look like a giant kitten really, how amusing.
"Oh, and here I was thinking you were doing the same kind of job as I am," she blinked innocently, "you know with a coat like yours, I'm sure many a tom must think you're a lady of the night or something. A tortoiseshell tom; why I've never met any. Are you even sure you're not a little tart, like you just said? You know they say projection's a defense mechanism, right? I'm sure Cezra would love a pretty boy like you; he'd eat you for dessert."
Surely this was all in jest, but the way her eyes glittered seemed to take amusement from his growing hysteria. What a stupid cat, to pick a fight in the street when he barely looked like he'd survive a scrap. The venomous tone in her voice was silky, as if she was still holding the upper hand of this whole conversation. Rhiannon was always a little on the arrogant side, after all.
Doe literally spluttered, completely caught off guard and speechless. He paced on the spot, not actually moving, like he was so mortified and furious that he couldn't make his legs obey him. His nose and inner ears had gone straight past pink to bright red and his whole pelt burned with humiliation. He'd always been insecure about his coat: his father had resented him for it from the moment he was born - a tom with a calico coat; he saw it from the start as an insult from StarClan and disdained the son he imagined would grow up to be effeminate, fragile and weak. Doe had learned to be proud of his pretty looks, and of his coat, but it was still a sensitive point and a very easy nerve to pick guaranteed to get some sort of reaction. Every single one of her words hit their mark, landing on insecurity after insecurity. His cheeks felt hot.
"Well, if I were, I'd be a hell of a lot more successful at it than you," he snapped back. It was a weak insult, and his higher-than-average voice shook with fury when he said it, but it was all he could muster when his brain had gone completely blank with embarrassment. Turning, he lashed his tail and hopped off the step, taking great care not to accidentally touch her as he stalked down the sidewalk. "Oh," he called out, voice now shaking with immature vindication and a childish, nasty sort of glee as he whirled around to look at her again from further down the road. "And a tom with the same accent as you sure seems to like eating me for dessert so!" Doe might as well have stuck his tongue out at her. He whipped around again and continued marching off down the road.
Seeing his ears go red and the speechless horror that dawned upon his face filled Rhiannon up with glee. She loved it when she figured out what exactly made another cat tick. It was amusing; she hadn't expected her words to be such a big blow, but the way he snapped and the shaking of rage that radiated off of him proved otherwise. A smug look appeared on her face, and she was ready to fight back, to continue making fun of this strange little cat, but his next comment made her brow furrow.
Tom with the same accent as her? There weren't many, that was for sure. Northern cats were few and far in between, but she had met more than a fair share. Reynardine, Laoise, and the rest of the cats who had found the body the same way she had. Then again, she knew of her brother's strange tastes in other toms, and while she wasn't against it, she did find his tastes...lacking in many ways. She had woken up to many nights on the road finding another cat cuddling with her brother. Eugh. The thought of that made her grimace.
It was a bit disappointing, she thought, that he was so sensitive. She hadn't even pulled out her best insults yet. Alas, she had a brother to look for, and she found herself wandering elsewhere.
It was perhaps a little luckier for Doefreckle, that Hywel wasn't all too far away, with a couple of mice in his jaws, he was trotting down the city streets with a grin on his face, unaware of what had just transpired. Spotting a tortoiseshell cat in the distance, he blinked in surprise, before waving his tail at the other cat. Doefreckle? What was he doing here?
The second Doe spotted Hywel, his whole demeanour immediately changed. All the aggression melted off him; he stood up straighter; his fur flattened and he gave it a few quick licks to neaten it; and the scowl that had been on his face was replaced by bright-eyed cheer. Completely forgetting about the she-cat - well, just enough that he still felt a pointed, self-satisfied little glow of smugness that the very tom he'd just mentioned was now here - he raised his tail back in a happy greeting before hurrying over to him. His earlier commitment to just pretending he hadn't meant to run into him and dismiss him, in that confusing playing-hard-to-get way, vanished; now, because of the she-cat, he just wanted to be all over him.
"Hywel!" he greeted in a soft, surprised voice, his eyes wide, layering on the sweetness. He brushed his head under Hywel's chin, then the length of his spine. "I was looking for you! I know we don't have a date planned or anything but I was going insane not seeing you." He sat back and ran a forepaw back and forth through Hywel's chest fur as he spoke in a soft mumble, playing absently with the long fluff and not looking at him, like he was bashful and sheepish at the confession. Half of him was genuinely happy to see the tom, even if it made him slightly annoyed and claustrophobic that he was now one step closer to Hywel thinking he was falling in love with him and might want to commit, which he definitely wasn't and didn't, because impromptu visits - even if that was what Doe had been doing in the first place - certainly seemed like some sort of deep affection; half of him just wanted to rub it in, even if the she-cat didn't see.
The tom had originally planned to hunt for himself and his sister. They hadn't spoken in what felt like weeks, not after their little argument. He had said some things he had meant to say–how could you keep this from me? Why would you go off like that, I was worried for you goddammit! You lied to me!–and some things he really didn't mean to say at all–you're just like your father, irresponsible and reckless and treating his kits like they're the scum of the earth just because they weren't exactly how you imagined them to be, what are you going to do, abandon them? What if I was like that, abandoning you to him because I couldn't handle a single shred of responsibility?–and now he only felt a little guilty.
She was young, and she was just doing what everyone else would've done in that situation. Why was he blaming the victim to that asshole tom's wiles and desires? Perhaps he spoiled her a bit–Rhiannon had never been one to go without, unlike himself–but she was family. He didn't want to leave it as it was. The mouse was intended as a peace offering, to get her to sit down and actually have a conversation instead of disappearing with a myriad of excuses every time he came near. After all, if she wasn't ready to care for her children, he'd take the mantle and care for his niece and nephews all the same. It made no difference to him.
Doefreckle's appearance was unexpected, but he immediately relaxed. It was easier finding him than to find Rhiannon right now, that was for sure. He grinned as the other cat brushed against him, and he returned a motion, nuzzling the other cat's ear. Despite his uneasiness over certain parts of their relationship–more so the fact that he was getting attached and Doefreckle didn't exactly want him that way–he was a cat who he could let his guard down around.
"Well if you want, I did catch two of these little buggers," he dropped the mice on the ground. He could catch more later, he supposed. "We could always call this a little impromptu date if you don't mind. I don't have anything grand planned out but...we could always climb up one of those fire escapes and have a nice lunch together?"
Doe eyed the mice; even as Hywel was speaking his gaze kept darting back to them, and finally he couldn’t take his eyes off them. “Who- was the other one for?” Doe asked with a bright-eyed smile, trying to be casual despite the slight falter in his question. He wasn’t JEALOUS - he just didn’t want to intrude if Hywel had other plans with some other tom. Though it was unnerving how easily, if that were the case, Hywel just blew off those prior plans to offer Doe a date instead. He wondered if it was that way with him as well, whether Hywel just finished his date with him and went off to another one, whether one day he’d just stand him up and leave him waiting because he’d found someone more handsome on his way there.
He started to doubt Hywel’s feelings for him at all - in the cathedral he’d been so sure, from the way Hywel looked at him and the way he spoke, but maybe he’d been mistaken. He was trying to work on his self-absorption. Maybe he was just as much a casual thing to Hywel as Hywel was to him. He didn’t know why that made him feel so sickeningly disappointed. That was what he’d wanted. He’d be glad if Hywel’s feelings weren’t as serious as he’d assumed they might be. It had been wrong of him to assume that in the first place. Selfish. There were plenty of toms out there. He didn’t care. Let Hywel be happy with someone else, it didn’t matter to him - good, he’d be glad for him. A sick sort of feeling was starting to curl in Doe’s gut. He brightened his smile to try and get rid of it.
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2,314 posts
Post by achromatic on Oct 6, 2021 8:07:00 GMT -5
Hywel blinked at the sudden question as if confused as to how that came up, all out of nowhere. Why was he asking? Was it so strange to be hunting for more than just his fair share...oh. Oh. He eyed the other cat, the way his big doe eyes were staring at him, that way he almost seemed to grimace, before smiling even brighter, yet not allowing that false joy to fill his eyes, still staring at him as if he had been slighted somehow.
He knew exactly what the emotion was. Jealousy. That confused him even further. Wasn't it him who wanted this as something casual? Shouldn't he be the one to encourage that? Why was he jealous? What was he jealous of? As much as Hywel had been more than his average playboy when he was younger, there hadn't been much time in the last few moons to flirt around with anyone other than Doefreckle, who he had immediately taken a liking to. It wasn't as if he didn't try, and there were a few interactions here and there with other toms that left him wondering, but he wasn't seeing anyone else, at least not as consistently as he was seeing Doefreckle.
There wasn't a point in playing with this cat's feelings. His whiskers twitched once, before he sat down, looking at the other cat as if asking him to sit as well so they could have a proper conversation, before finally responding. "My sister originally, but I think she's avoiding me," he snorted, "but also...you do realize I have other friends right? That I'm not sleeping with?" He wanted to ask why he was acting this way, but he wasn't sure that'd lead to anything productive. "You know, if you wanted me to stop seeing other cats, all you'd have to do is ask," he teased, "but if it helps, no I wasn't going on another date with someone else. You don't really need to worry about that."
"Oh," Doe replied, his face burning. Maybe that was Doe's problem - he didn't really have friends he didn't sleep with. He brushed his forepaw back and forth along the sidewalk as he continued, his cheeks still red hot and his voice self-consciously serious. "Well, you can, y'know. See other cats. I don't care." He knew Hywel was fishing for him to give in and say they were exclusive, but he wasn't going to bite. He was too stubborn for that. He was going to say more when Hywel's other words caught up to him.
A sick feeling of realisation crept through him like slow, murky water. "Is..." His mouth felt dry; he swallowed. "Your sister isn't a sort of... grey-ish tabby, is she?" He was trying to be unaffected but his casual voice was slightly sheepish and filled with inevitable dread. He already knew the answer. He seemed to shrink slightly, growing smaller as he lowered his head like the confirmation would be a physical blow.
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2,314 posts
Post by achromatic on Oct 7, 2021 9:43:21 GMT -5
Of course, that was what Doefreckle would say. He had expected that, and despite that feeling of disappointment that seemed to linger in his chest, he gave the other cat a shrug. He wasn't going to push if the other tom didn't want this. As disappointing as that was, he simply held his head high and gave him a smile. "Yeah, I don't mind if you see others either," he spoke. It was true, he knew that Doefreckle certainly had other friends and lovers, and he didn't mind as long as he didn't have to meet and be friendly to all of the rest.
At the question about his sister, the tom's brow furrowed. "Well sort of, dark grey, white chest and paws...why?" he was curious to the sudden change in conversation. She was certainly around here somewhere, though he supposed she'd be in the forest rather than the city these days. "Did you see her somewhere?"
"Yeeah," Doe replied guiltily, his head still lowered. Then - realising that if he could ahead of the public relations disaster and direct the story, he could gloss over the unpleasantness of his encounter with The Sister entirely and then, when he met her again, greet her so nicely that she would have no choice but to follow his lead and lie and be nice back (because that was how the world worked in Doefreckle's mind) - he immediately perked up, straightening up and plastering a sparkling smile on his face. "She was over there." He gestured his tail in the vague direction he'd come from, further down the road, turning only briefly to check she wasn't there and not finding much interest in the fact she wasn't. "She seemed to be looking for someone - you, I'd imagine now - and I know it must be her because of her accent. She's... charming." Doe smiled. He said charming like someone would call a lemon sweet.
"Shall we go find her? Or - you. I'm sorry, I'm completely monopolising your day." Doe's voice was apologetic and uncertain, his brows drawn together.
He furrowed his brow at the way Doefreckle's expression looked. Did something happen? Hywel seemed concerned, as the other cat's expression immediately shifted once more, trotting towards the direction he had come from. Oh. He was rather suprised at the revelation. Was Rhiannon looking for him? Was there something that she needed? Of course, he wanted to find his sister, but then again...he wouldn't have minded avoiding all of that–what was the use of fighting with his sister in front of someone else?–and just had lunch with the other tom instead.
"Accent huh?" he smirked, amused, before shaking his head, "you're really not at all. To be honest, my sister and I...well, let's just say we had an argument a couple of days ago and well...it's totally fine if we look for her another time, you know. We could have lunch together instead? Leave that for later?"
It seemed as if fate itself didn't want this lunch date to happen, because moments later, the silhouette of a dark cat could be seen in the distance.
Doe had been slowing, eyes softening and mouth opening to agree to Hywel’s offer of an unplanned date - before the dark figure caught his attention and made his gaze flick to the side. He turned his head, his heart sinking darkly and a string of frustrated curses flying through his mind even as his smile grew welcoming and warm, as happy as if he’d never met her before. That’s what he was going to pretend - that they’d gotten off on the wrong foot and that he was sure she was a lovely cat, even if he really thought she was a rude, conniving little derogatory term. And if she pushed him, he’d just get sweeter and sweeter, sweet enough to choke on. The last thing that he was going to allow to happen was Hywel thinking worse of him because of his awful sister.
“Is that her?” he asked lightly, looking up at Hywel with a sunny smile and his eyes slightly scrunched up at the bottom. “She’s very pretty. Must run in the family.”
It seemed as if Rhiannon's suspicions weren't exactly off based. The moment she had spotted the colourful pelt next to her brother's silver one, her eyes narrowed, her gaze dark. Of course, she thought. Who else would be sleeping around with other toms the way Hywel often did? As much as she had planned to make up with her brother, this new bit of information made something ugly twist inside her stomach. The way he had shouted at her, the way he had implied all of her faults–irresponsible, reckless, and a little harlot, really–and the fact that here he was, flirting with that stupid little tom who had done exactly the same...gods it just boiled her blood. Men were trash, she thought, pointing a finger everywhere they can without realizing the four fingers pointed back towards them.
"Why I can't say I'm surprised," her voice was low, unamused, "the lady boy and my promiscuous older brother. What was it you said to me the other day? That I should be a little less reckless? Stop sleeping around or something?"
Hywel blinked, seemingly uneasy. "Hey Rhi," he spoke slowly, carefully, grimacing at how awkward this little family reunion was going to be, "uh...you two have met, I'm guessing?" He turned to Doe with the most apologetic look, before turning to Rhiannon again.
"Look, I'm really sorry about what I said last week," he spoke, his voice genuine, "I was...it was wrong of me to say all of that, I guess I was just caught off guard with everything going on right now, but...look, I know you're angry at me but can we talk about this later?"
Her expression didn't change, still cold and icy. "Clearly you're preoccupied with him," she turned her cold gaze to Doefreckle, her whisker twitched once in amusement, "I always thought your type was something else. You know, what was his name again? The other cat you were sleeping with before we came down here...the big muscular one? This one seems rather...unappetizing compared to your usual, brother." Her narrowed eyes seemed to find a sick sort of amusement in seeing the two cats squirm.
God, she knew just the right things to say to really bother Doe, like she had some omnipotent instruction manual. This was going to be an agonising ordeal, having to keep the harmless smile on his face while this vile she-cat sought out all his insecurities like a bloodhound and dug her claws into them. The lady boy. Doefreckle’s smile didn’t falter; the only hint that he was affected by the name was the ever so slight tilt of his head. The sweetness in his eyes was sweet as foxglove.
When Hywel looked back at him, Doe snapped his attention away from where he and Rhiannon had been locked in a silent, hateful staring contest and gave Hywel a quick, reassuring little shake of his head with his eyes closed, like he was saying don’t worry about it. Like he couldn’t be happier. He was just about to reply - some cheerful drivel about her being just as exuberant now as she was then; when Doe was trying to be mean, his favourite first stop was condescension - but Hywel had already turned back to Rhiannon. Doe closed his mouth with a little click of teeth and went back to smiling poisonously at Rhiannon behind his back. He wasn’t going to break before she did.
When Hywel started to talk about personal family matters, Doe pretended to politely bow his head and play with a loose pebble on the sidewalk, rolling it back and forth under his mottled brown and pink pads, while all the while listening intently. His alert ears, swivelled slightly towards them, were the only indication he was being a nosy brat and wondering what exactly had happened between them. It was a glimpse into a part of Hywel’s life he’d never seen before - he always kept his family life, and especially his life before he came to the forest, as private as he could.
But at the word him, Doe assumed she was talking about him and raised his head again, blinking softly between her and Hywel like he was asking permission to pay attention to the conversation again. She made that decision for him when she started on about Hywel’s apparent usual type, ignoring him even as she so clearly directed the words at him in such a way that made his blood boil and his claws lightly scrape against the sidewalk. Even though he knew she was trying to make him jealous and insecure and he shouldn’t rise to the bait, he couldn’t help it - it hurt, and it made him feel inadequate, and he found his gaze drifting up to Hywel like he was quietly asking for reassurance. “Maybe I should go,” he told him, trying so hard to keep his voice gentle and sunny and unaffected despite the sting in his chest and the venomous hatred of Rhiannon - almost a competitiveness - that was already starting to scheme against her. He was already starting to back away.
