Gale's Secret

(Hey everyone, I'm back! Sorry for staying away for so long. But I'm back to updating the chapters. Please keep following me and like and comment. Thanks)

~~~~~

The sun had almost set by the time the four kids arrived at the orphanage. Sister Oedigal and another sister, Orphelia were standing at the doorway, seemingly in a conversation.

Upon noticing the arrival of the kids, they turned towards them and led them inside for supper. After dinner, Cern headed off to his room to take a shower, but before he could make it to the stairs, he was assaulted by a small figure.

"Big brother Cern! Big sister Vinnie and Big brothers Talen and Gale were showing us their skills again. Show us what you do, big brother"

A small 3-year old child with brown locks buried her face into his legs. Looking up at him, Cern could feel his soul being drawn into her emerald eyes and couldn't resist the urge to say no.

"Yeah! Show us your skills big brother Cern"

Cern was put at a loss. He was an Espers, but also a mage. He could show them his mage skills but that would draw suspicion, but he hadn't received any Esper training techniques from the envoys yet. He was told that both a teacher and some training techniques would be provided to him if he came to a bigger city.

Obviously they were trying to recruit him, just like they recruited mages to work for the kingdom. The mages and espers were all sent to the Royal magic academy, where they were trained for 6 years and then sent to the frontlines for another 4 years.

Sarah stared at him while waiting for him to show off his skills. Cern couldn't help but to get nervous as he didn't really have any skill to show. He couldn't reveal his reverse analysis or his analysis as those were unique abilities and were treated as his trump card.

Noticing his distress, Gale stepped in with a [Fireball] and drew her attention.

"Cern doesn't have a teacher like I do because he is of a very rare powerful class, right big brother Cern?"

Cern, noticing his help quickly nodded his head. Cern then pat her head before pushing her toward the fireball in Gale's hands, as if to say 'Gale's magic is better'. Gale suddenly froze abruptly, probably not expecting such a turnaround. His head and face was out of view, but Cern could hear him mumbling.

As Cern proceeded upstairs, Gale followed behind him, leaving Sarah with Vinnie for more entertainment.

Cern steeped into his room, noticing the steps behind him freeze outside the doorway. He turned around and noticed Gale frozen outside his doorway, as if afraid to enter his room.

Gale's face was red all over, as though he'd never been in another child's room before. Cern pat the side of his bed as if to say 'come. sit' and Gale obliged.

There was silence for a while as Gale remained nervous all the while. Finally, Gale spoke;

"I want to train with you, brother Cern. I...I..I want to get strong so we can both head to the capital together."

Cern stared at Gale for a while before nodding his head, an acknowledgement of Gale's words. Gale, who got excited, was suddenly reminded of something and he became nervous all over again.

At this point, Cern was fully ready to break his promise not to talk, and just straight out ask what the problem with him was. Although he was mostly patient, he had a limit too, plus he wanted to get up on time for more training tomorrow.

"Brother Cern, I have an important question."

Silence...

"Brother Cern, can you please wait for me? I'm not very confident and get scared easily, but I promise to try to get stronger so I can be by your side..."

As he got closer to the last part, his voice began to recede and his face turned a bright shade of red. Talen and Vinnie who were listening and peeking in from the hallway already knew what was going on;

"I don't believe he actually has the guts to confess", Vinnie said.

"I can't believe he actually likes Cern. I mean, he's only a kid. It's probably just an infatuation or sth. He'll get over it as he grows", Talen pointed out.

"Tch! You really know how to ruin the mood, Talen"

"Hey! I was just pointing out facts"

Homosexuality was also very common in this world, as there were no rules against same sex partnership. At least, not in this kingdom. There were lots of male - male and female - female couples, even in the village.

Cern, on the other hand, who had never really had a relationship before and didn't know why Gale was acting weird, continued to patiently wait for him to leave.

"Well obviously Cern doesn't understand the intricacies of love. He looks so stumped right now"

Vinnie's peals of laughter rang out in the hall, before a hand clamped over her mouth.

" You'll blow our cover if you laugh like that"

Sure enough, Talen's face turn red again and his breathing became pitched and labored. Cern couldn't help but scrunch his face up.

'Is he falling sick?'

Obviously, he had heard the laughter, but who didn't know how loud-mouthed Vinnie could be. That was why he had ignored the sound.

He placed his hands over Gale's head and neck, not noticing how Gale held his breath the entire time. Feeling a small burning sensation on Gale's neck, he finally made a move.

Reaching out, he pulled Gale's clothes right off and Gale who finally released the breath he was holding, froze up again. Cern lay him down on the bed before dipping a small cloth in water and pressing it against his skin.

The cool touch of the cloth on his skin made Gale's breath hitch and he stared at Cern as he worked. When he was done, Gale tried to get up, but Cern held him back on the bed and shook his head.

'Dont stand up' was what Gale understood, but 'don't move around so much' was what Cern meant. Gale lay back down, waiting for Cern, expecting him to make a move, but instead Cern laid down next to him before covering them both with the blanket.

Subconsciously, Cern wrapped Gale in his arms, just like a big brother would to his little brother, before going to sleep, while Gale lay there, his body stiff, as he stared at Gale's hands and where they lay on his body.

For the rest of the night, Gale could hardly fall asleep, at least not until he escaped from Cern's strong embrace and made it back to his room, in the early hours of the day...