The cook had prepared another feast. It amazed Armin every time the man managed to make meals that could feed a small army. This time, the whole table stood full of different vegetables, potatoes, bread, grapes, cheese, and three different kinds of meat. And that was even after they already had soup as appetizers to line their stomachs in preparation for the main course.

Kristof sat on the chair next to him again. He agreed with Kristof that this was far more sociable than when they both sat at the heads of the table, ten meters apart.

The younger was just stuffing some grapes into his mouth when Kristof asked: "So, shall we go on foot or horse tomorrow during our trip?"

"I van nob ribe horbebak," Armin spoke with his mouth full.

"Swallow first, will you? I can't understand what you're saying."

"I said I can't ride horseback."

"Oh, then we will walk tomorrow... If you like, I could teach you to ride. Not tomorrow, but another day."

"Yeah...maybe."

"Tomorrow, I'll show you all the places I love." Kristof was looking forward to it already. "Oh, another thing I wanted to tell you. Tonight is story night. That has become a sort of a thing here."

"Story night?"

"Yes. The servants always want to hear about the tales I've heard during my travels. They seem to like it a lot. May came asking for it this morning. If you want, you can come to listen too. Today and tomorrow."

"Uhm, I think I will just go to sleep early, after dinner." Armin already agreed to go with the man tomorrow. He thought that would be enough time for them to spend together. More time than that and he might end up giving Kristof mixed signals. He didn't want that.

~~~

It was nine o'clock in the evening and Armin was turning, rolling, and moving in his bed. Why did he say he wanted to sleep early? He wasn't tired at all.

It had been such a crazy day. Especially meeting the King. But also the visit to the mine and the fight he had with Kristof. His mind wasn't ready to go to sleep yet, it was still too hyperactive.

He rolled out of bed, put pants on, and walked outside his chamber. Nobody was there. He walked a couple of stairs down till he had reached the servants' floor and heard Kristof's voice there.

"And the prince went up the winding stairs and opened the door to the little room where Sleeping Beauty lay. When he saw her looking so lovely in her sleep, he couldn't turn away his eyes. He kissed her, and she awaked, opened her eyes, and looked kindly upon him."

Kristof was telling his foreign tales. Armin could see all the servants sitting with open mouths, listening to the calm voice of their master.

Armin didn't want to interrupt them, but he couldn't resist peeking through the door. He thought of leaving but found himself wanting to listen a bit more.

He saw Kristof working his magic. The man told the stories using his whole body and imitated voices. It was mesmerizing.

After a while, Armin sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. With closed eyes, he listened to the calming voice that spoke. He heard the servants exclaim with wonderment. They laughed when the tales were funny, gasped when they were amazed, and yelled when they were excited.

Kristof had begun his third tale already and all this time, Armin had kept watching and listening.

"Among them was a young prince with large, blue eyes. He was sixteen years old, and his birthday was being celebrated greatly, with fireworks and dancing. The beautiful mermaid was so surprised by all the lights that shot up in the air, that she dived underwater. When she again stretched out her head, it looked as if all the stars of heaven were falling around her."

Armin had never heard tales like this before. They seemed otherworldly and mystical. He thought they were beautiful.

When the story was over, he heard Kristof say that he would go upstairs again because reading time was over, so Armin hastily went back to his room. Nobody had to know he was spying on them the entire time!

As he laid in bed, all he heard was Kristof's voice inside his head, until finally, he managed to fall into a deep, deep sleep...

✧══════•❁❀❁•══════✧

Kristof had woken up early the following morning, feeling happy, for he and Armin would be together for the day, with no other people to disturb the two of them! He'd felt like he was walking on sunshine.

But now he stood in front of the mirror, thinking to himself that he was crazy. What did he even want to accomplish today? He told Armin that being friends with him was enough and now he was picturing whole other things in his head.

As if Armin wanted someone like him... Did he forget what Armin had told him a few days ago?

"I was in love with someone and now? Now, I am married to you."

What was he actually thinking? Armin told him he was in love with someone else. Yet here he was, getting all excited that they would go for a walk together. He should think nothing more of it and let these ridiculous thoughts and hopes go. Armin was in love with someone else and wanted to marry someone else.

Kristof sighed. He looked at his stump and closed the arm cuff over it. The wooden hand still laid on his nightstand. He took it and screwed it in.

That hand...always in the same position. He was rich. Maybe he should get a few more hands made in different positions? Like a closed hand or so... It was just a thought that came over him.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard knocking. It was Armin, all ready to go.

Kristof saw the younger man staring at his wooden prosthetic hand and he realized he wasn't wearing his gloves yet.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kristof said while hurrying to his closet, to quickly take out a pair of black leather gloves.

"It's...it's okay," Arming said. "Actually...may I see it?" he hesitantly asked.

The first time Armin had laid his eyes on Kristof, he couldn't even look at the leather-covered hand. But now, he got a little more used to the other and everyone in the house and their sometimes unusual appearances.

"Uh, yes. Sure," Kristof replied, a little surprised by the request. He offered his prosthetic hand to the younger.

Armin softly touched it. It was hard, but also soft and smooth. He took it in his hands and raised Kristof's arm to look at the hand from up close.

Since Armin seemed to be in a curious mood, Kristof took it a step further. "Do you want to see my cuff off?"

Armin looked at Kristof. "You mean you can just take it off like that?"

"Of course." Kristof chuckled. "I take it off every night when I go to sleep. And when I'm taking a bath. Or when I'm alone. It's not that comfortable... It's just for show. When I'm alone, I never wear it."

Armin was kind of curious. Could he really look at it? What if it was too grotesque to look at? Or maybe it was not?

"Okay," Armin answered.

"Okay? Absolutely sure?"

"Yes."

Armin watched with wide eyes as Kristof started twisting the hand until it came off the duff and Kristof held it in his other hand. He rolled his sleeve up and Armin saw a metal cuff around his arm with a hole in it.

"That hole there, that's where the hand goes in. And these are the straps of the cuff."

While Kristof talked, he walked over to the table and laid the wooden hand down. He then loosened the straps of his cuff one by one until the last one was open and he took off his cuff.

Armin held his breath. His eyes had automatically diverted when the cuff had come off, but his curiosity demanded that he would look at Kristof's stump. Where else would he get a chance like this? If he asked someone to show them their stump, they would call him rude.

The sight was...strange. An arm without a hand. It was weird to him, but it did not disgust him like he thought he would. It was round at the bottom, flawed with another scar.

Kristof rolled his hand around his stump a couple of times as both men stood in silence, not knowing what to do next.

"Okay...shall we go then?" Kristof suggested and went on with strapping the cuff back on. He was skilled enough to do it alone after doing it for so many years.

When he got the first strap closed, two hands grabbed his hand. He looked at Armin, surprised by the sudden touch.

"If...if it's uncomfortable for you...You don't have to wear it for me. I've seen it now... So..."

Kristof felt the butterflies flutter inside his stomach again. He had felt so exposed without his cover-up. He feared what Armin would think about him. He thought he found him disgusting. But the other told him he didn't need to wear it in front of him.

"Thank you. That means a lot to me," Kristof replied, his eyes grateful. He took the cuff off once again and placed it on the table. He wouldn't wear it today.

~~~

Armin heard the gushing sounds of the waterfall in the distance already. Kristof had told him it was one of the most beautiful scenes in nature he had ever seen, and that statement came from a man who had traveled all over the world, so Armin was a bit excited.

He excitedly walked behind Kristof and bumped against him when the other stood still in front of him.

"Shhhh. Look," Kristof whispered while pointing at a tree.

"What is it?" Armin whispered back. He saw nothing.

"There, don't you see it?"

"No. What is there?"

Kristof grabbed Armin's cheek and turned it towards the right spot, where Armin saw a huge bright blue butterfly resting on a leaf. "Wow..." Armin sighed. He had never seen such a large and bright-colored insect before.

Kristof's hand was still touching his cheek

"..."

Kristof looked back at Armin and it took him a while before he realized where his hand was placed. "Oh, sorry." He quickly retreated his hand.

"It's...fine..." Armin said, feeling a hot prickling sensation remaining on his cheek.

About half an hour later, they arrived at their destination. Armin was amazed. Kristof had told the truth; it was truly breathtaking.

The water poured over the edge of green moss-covered rocks and straight into a bright blue lake, while pink and orange flowers grew where the water didn't reach.

They went to sit at the waterfront, where Kristof took off his shoes and dipped his feet in the crisp lukewarm water.

"Do you want some food? I brought some. And drinks too," he said.

Armin sat down next to him and took his shoes off as well. They ate and drank together and looked at the pretty scenery in front of them.

"Do you come here often?" Armin asked.

"Yes, mostly once a week. And when it's hot, I go for a swim."

"That must feel nice."

"It does."

"Even though you saw me jump in a fountain once, I actually can't swim," Armin said before he sighed.

"Well, the fountain was like twelve inches deep." Kristof laughed. Armin gave him a look. "Another thing I could teach you then. What else?"

"I don't know. But when I'm around you I feel like you can do everything and I can do nothing."

Kristof's expression went from happy to sad in a second. "I don't want to give you that feeling."

Armin didn't mean to make the conversation all heavy and sentimental. "Just teach me these two things first, okay?"

"Then I hope you are a quick student as we have less than three weeks.".

Kristof smiled a smile that didn't reach his eyes and then looked at the waterfall as if he was in deep thoughts. Armin pressed a piece of bread into his mouth.

"Wha...what was that?!" he spat the bread out of his mouth and touched his head. He had felt something fall on top of it. "What is this?" he asked, rubbing his head, until a white mucus was smeared on his fingers.

Kristof snickered.

"What is it? What are you chuckling about?"

"Bird poo," Kristof answered. "That face...of yours!" Kristof couldn't hold it anymore and burst out in heavy laughter.

"Oh my God! Disgusting!!" Armin rubbed on his head again, causing his hair to stand up in all directions. He looked ridiculous.

Kristof found it hilarious. He was clutching his stomach, which was cramping from how much he was laughing. Tears started to stream down his face. Armin laughed along with him. Why must this happen to him? Why did that bird exactly crap on his head in all of this nature?

The two men laughed for five minutes straight. Every time one finally had it under control, the other started laughing again.

"Kristof, I will stick my head above the water, and you must wash it out," Armin said when they were really done laughing this time and had caught their breaths back.

Armin then stood up and kneeled at the edge of the lake where he ducked his head low. Kristof kneeled beside him and poured water over his head, rubbing the bird poop out of the other's hair.

Kristof frowned as he let the strands of soft hair run through his fingers. He never touched Armin this intimately before. Never was so close to him as he was today.

He could feel it deep inside him. This happy feeling. He had seen Armin laugh today. Truly laughing, out of happiness, for the first time since they were "together."

How could he go back from this happiness to nothing in less than three weeks?

"Is it out?" Armin called.

"Uh- yes, it's clean. Though you might want to wash it at home with some soap."

Armin got up on his knees and threw his head back, shaking it so that his hair would lose most of the wetness. He then laid on his back into the grass. Watching up at the clouds.

"Let's take a nap," he suggested.

"What, here?" Kristof asked.

"Yes."

Ten minutes later, Armin heard the even and slow pace of Kristof's breathing, meaning the man was asleep.

Armin rolled over to his side, facing Kristof. They were an arm's length apart. and Kristof's face laid towards Armin, who looked at the scar. It was almost like he was used to it now. Two days ago, he found it repulsive and hideous, and even though he still didn't find it particularly attractive, it was less disturbing to him.

The thin cut started under Kristof's eye, but got wider the more it came towards his mouth. At the widest point, it was gaping and shiny and deep. And it was wrinkly at the bottom.

Kristof sighed in his sleep and rolled on his back, his face now only showing the side without the scar. He was handsome when Armin looked at him like this. Roan was no prettier than Kristof when you only looked at him from this angle.

Armin found Kristof definitely nicer and kinder than Roan. And he had done more for him already than his former lover ever had done.

Sometimes, when Armin sat in a certain position, he could still feel the pain in his ass. He actually regretted his decision. He should never have slept with Roan. Sadly, he couldn't turn back time.

All his friends always spoke so highly of lovemaking. As if it was something to enjoy. Armin hadn't enjoyed it at all. Would sex with someone else also feel the same as it had felt with Roan...?

Armin swallowed and tore his gaze off Kristof. He rolled on his back to face the sky. What was he actually thinking about right now?

~~~

Little did he know that later that evening, Armin found himself once more peeking through the door, spying as Kristof told his tales again.