Chapter 48: Let’s hug it out
Cass bit his lip, turning away from Lord Vespertine before he sighed.
"Just...let me up." Cass muttered tiredly. He was still angry. Still super fucking pissed, but he didn’t have the energy to waste on him. Lord Vespertine noticed the shift, and appeared to panic.
"Uh, Lord Cassian? Are you alright?" He asked carefully and Cass sighed again.
"No, I’m not, but what’s the fucking point in explaining myself to you when it doesn’t even matter? You aren’t really listening to me, and you don’t really care. You are just looking for more information, and noticed that I was uncomfortable with touch and affection, so you’re using it against me. It’s not like I can’t understand why you would do it. If I was in your shoes, I’m sure I’d do the same." Cass snorted. "It’s no skin off your back to be affectionate with another person." He muttered. Lord Vespertine’s eyes were wide. "And stop doing that. I’m not some child who needs to be comforted." Cass protested.
"What? What am I doing?" Lord Vespertine asked and Cass turned his head to glare at him.
"The exaggerated expressions. I don’t need them. I can read you perfectly fine without treating me like I’m a kid learning how to read people." It seemed that Cass might have well and truly shocked the other man. He didn’t give a fuck. Cass wiggled in Lord Vespertine’s lap, and felt the man’s hands tighten. "Let me go." Cass told him firmly and Lord Vespertine appeared to take a slow, calming breath.
"No. Especially not after being called out so harshly." Lord Vespertine responded and Cass felt his anger flare red hot before he forced it down.
"Why does it matter to you? You don’t even like me." Lord Vespertine flinched. Cass had no idea why. His words shouldn’t be anything new to him. Cass knew, Lord Blackburn knew, and so did Lord Vespertine. Cass was just speaking the truth.
"That...that might be the reason." Lord Vespertine muttered almost too quiet for Cass to hear. Unfortunately for Lord Vespertine, Cass had really good hearing, and he tensed again.
"That’s the fucking reason? You want to basically torture me? I never took you for that kind of a cruel man, Lord Vespertine." He flinched again, his grip tightening on Cass.
"Oh gods, what have I done?" He muttered to himself and Cass wanted to scoff again. They weren’t going to be any help, but Cass wasn’t going to tell that to essentially the Pope’s son. That wouldn’t go over well. Especially in the situation he found himself in currently.
Lord Vespertine shifted Cass, and Cass waved his arms around wildly as his center of gravity changed until he realised what was happening. Lord Vespertine was hugging him, pressing their chests against each other and holding Cass tenderly, but firmly, in his arms.
"W-What are you doing?" Cass demanded, flustered and Lord Vespertine sighed heavily, rubbing his nose against Cass’ shoulder affectionately.
"Something I probably should have done a lot sooner." He muttered, giving Cass a squeeze. Cass was flustered. He wasn’t sure if he liked this behaviour, or the flirty one more. They were both awful, but in completely different ways.
At least with the flirting, he could be angry since it was a slight against their shared wife, but with the hug...it wasn’t something so easily handled. Made worse by the fact that it settled some of the anger that Lord Blackburn had.
That made Cass more angry. One that Lord Blackburn seemed to be forgiving him so easily, and two, that it was so easy to fix. If these fuckers had just given him...what? Basic care? Lord Blackburn probably would have been much better off.
Cass didn’t need it. He’d had his sister. While the two of them hadn’t been openly affectionate, they had cared for each other. They didn’t normally hug, but it wasn’t as if they didn’t hold hands or other things when no one else was around. He remembered once when he’d been a small boy where they had both been sad, but Cass was also sick. His sister had cried because she wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to get him help, but Cass, being only a child, had crawled into her lap and told her that everything was going to be fine.
Cass thought back fondly on that moment. He’d thought he’d held up quite well, but he couldn’t remember his sister’s face when he’d said those words. He’d been since, after all, but he had hoped that she had found comfort in them, the same way that he had.
He’d sworn after that moment to not bother her as much. To not worry her to the point of tears. He hadn’t liked seeing her like that. So sad and desperate. So he had vowed to not be an issue like that again. The old Cass was hearty, strong. Not one to easily fall ill or have issues. If he got into fights, he’d patch himself up. His sister was too important to him for him to worry her over needless things.
And he always won in the end. So, there was no need to worry. There was a reason that no one really messed with him after they fucked with him once. That, and he just hadn’t really been interested in others. He liked his books, and he liked his shows, and he liked a couple of food items and his sister. That was about it.
Cass tried to wiggle out of Lord Vespertine’s grip, but it tightened.
"No. I’m going to hug the anger out of you." Lord Vespertine told him, and Cass felt his whole body vibrate. Hug the anger out of him? Was the man mad? There was no way that was going to happen. Hugs were not that therapeutic.
"There is no way that is going to work." Cass warned and Lord Vespertine shrugged.
"We won’t know until we try, now will we? I doubt you’d do this with Lady Fiona or Ava, right? And you’d probably rather punch Lucian before you let him close to you. Or...maybe not? You two did seem to kind of patch things up. That, or Lucian didn’t give you a choice in the matter." Cass was doing his best not to react to Lord Vespertine’s words, or the way his lips against his ear were making him feel.
The man wasn’t trying to seduce him, at least he was pretty sure, but that didn’t matter to this body apparently. Fucking hell.
"Given your silence, I’m going to assume that Lucian was like a bull in a tea shop and didn’t give you a choice. That isn’t based on an assumption directed towards you, but from Lucian’s own damn actions. The man isn’t quite...good at subtle things." Cass snorted.
"I don’t think you can completely say that. He is observant, just..." He wasn’t human, so sometimes he didn’t get things. Cass wasn’t going to out him, even if the two of them clearly knew that the other wasn’t human, or fully human. That was none of his business, and he wasn’t about to give out information he knew for free.
Not to Lord Vespertine of all people.
"Ah, so you’ve been on the receiving end of one of his chats, then. What did he offer you?" Cass wasn’t sure what he meant, and Lord Vespertine wasn’t letting him up from his grip on him to let him look at his face.
"Offer me? What do you mean?" Cass asked, confused and Lord Vespertine chuckled.
"He works on a very predictable level. If he is trying to curry favour with someone, he will do things for them. He did the same for Lady Fiona, and for me, interestingly enough. He probably did the same for Gideon and Ava, but we’ve never spoken about it. For me," he shifted, leaning back more and Cass had to press his hands against the back of the carriage, worried he was going to fall. "I’m not going to drop you suddenly, Lord Cassian, so you better settle in. I’m not releasing you until I can feel your body stop tensing under my every little movement." Cass didn’t think that was going to happen at all, and he scowled.
So he was trapped like this until they got into town? Fuck. He should have asked Sir Forsythe to come into the carriage with them.
"You are a monster." Cass muttered quietly, pissed and Lord Vespertine squeezed him tightly.
"Awe. I think I’m beginning to learn that your hard words are just soft words hidden behind a shell. How cute. I didn’t know we had someone this adorable so close by. Had I known your hard exterior held such a gooey center, I would have pestered you before." Cass felt himself growl again and Lord Vespertine chuckled. "As I was saying..."
And that was how the rest of the carriage ride went. Cass, wrapped up like a child in Lord Vespertine’s arms as he prattled on, Cass interjecting every once in a while. Cass wanted the trip to end, but didn’t put up as much of a protest as he wanted since Lord Blackburn was enjoying it. He had no idea how he knew that, but he just knew.
Lord Vespertine seemed to be enjoying himself as well, and even if Cass hated the man, he wasn’t so cruel that he’d stop two people from having some bonding time. Who knows? He might even be able to leave his body after he completed this ’quest’ given to him, and it would be good for Lord Blackburn to have healed his broken relationships.
That was how Cass was choosing to look at it so he didn’t go insane. At least the man wasn’t groping him, or being inappropriate. He just...held him and prattled on. It was bad, but...it could be worse.