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After Laios had become king, their party disbanded, although the motive behind it was far better than the previous ones Chilchuck had seen. In the end, they all went their own separate ways, hardly keeping contact for the first few months.
Only after having adjusted to his new life did the feeling of nostalgia for their past adventures settle in for Chilchuck. Oftentimes, he found himself missing the mere presence of his friends, the amical bickering and the days they all went to the tavern together. Maybe visiting his friends was long overdue. Plus, there was a particular face he missed.
After multiple weeks of planning, everyone settled on a week to visit Laios’ now kingdom in the hopes of exploring a dungeon, even if it wasn't the same as it once was.
Because of Laios’ curse that somehow drove monsters away, their adventure was restricted to purely doing exploration. They also had to pack way more provisions since hunting monsters became impossible. Their dungeon adventure itself was pretty awful, but everyone being reunited and enjoying a – pretty mediocre dehydrated – meal was more than filling to satisfy that crave for a new adventure.
At least the lack of monsters had its upsides, they could freely look around for treasures left behind or valuable resources that formed in the natural dungeons, even if it was to Laios’ dismay. Chilchuck often found himself staring at the man sulking, there was something endearing about it. Chilchuck missed the feeling of comfort that was unique to Laios.
Chilchuck lightly patted him on the back when he seemed to have reached a new low, offering to pay him a pint once they made it out of the dungeon. Immediately, the man’s face lit up, because this usually went the other way around. Laios used to always buy an extra pint or two, generally for Chilchuck or Namari. It was always in the hopes they'd stay a bit longer when their old party went out to the tavern. But as time went on, Chilchuck started lingering around for longer as he grew to enjoy being in Laios’ presence.
When they met up in the evening after finishing their dungeon expedition, Chilchuck didn’t expect to only see Laios show up. He assumed that he’d invited the rest of their party. Normally, for this kind of thing, the more the merrier, but he could see how that wouldn’t apply to Laois.
There was some charm to this kind of quality time alone, it didn’t have to mean anything. He’d grown to quite fond of him over time, to harbor feelings for someone he once wouldn't have trusted as a leader felt weird at first. But he’d learnt to loosen up around him, even allowing the man to call him Chil, something he hadn't permitted anyone to do other than his family.
But surely, his sentiments had to have mostly dissipated since he’d started his own shop, he was far too busy to think about him, or to bother even to reach out to feed into his feelings. Chilchuck always cared about the people close to him, but always struggled when it came to expressing it – old habits die hard.
They sat in silence until their server came to take their order. Although disheartening, this was probably the result of a friendship that’d been badly maintained. Maybe this simply was the result of the group’s growing distance. Even if Chilchuck considered himself close to Laios, he hadn't truly had the chance to catch up with him.
Usually, if he wasn't the one to start a conversation, Laios would find a way around it by awkwardly stating some monster facts and from there on, a discussion often sparked. Yet, he stayed dead silent, eyes darting around the room.
Curious as to what was up with him, Chilchuck leaned on his elbow, face resting in palm in an attempt to read his expression and asked “Any new monster facts to share?” He would be lying if he said he hadn't missed his voice, all of Laios for that fact, he could listen to his rambling for hours on end. Hopefully this would get him to open up, he knew how Laios struggled communicating with others at times.
“Ah, well,” Laios fidgetted with his sleeve, looking taken aback, it was rare people would ask him to share his interests “I think I’ve told you guys most of the ones I knew of by now, so there’s not much left to say. But if it counts, Falin and I have discovered that the parts of her skin covered in feathers actually closely resemble the ones you’d find on a basilisk— or any chicken for that matter. Which explained why the feathers kept growing but didn’t spread across the rest of her body.” Laios gestured as he explained, even on words that didn't need to be mimed, emphasizing his enthusiasm. He was relieved to know all Laios needed was a small encouraging push to get him going.
Chichuck leaned further against the table to look at Laios while he went on a tangent about how different human and chicken skin is. Although he always made sure to pay attention whenever Laios told them monster facts during dungeon explorations, it was mostly just so that he’d be able to know how to deal with them if needed. It felt like he’d taken those things for granted, only realising now that he didn’t have this anymore – the proximity with Laios.
The man finally took a pause, looking breathless, as their drinks arrived. He gave Chilchuck a glance to see if he was still listening, knowing this would usually bore anyone, only to find him staring. For the first time, Laios saw the affectionate look Chilchuck often gave him when he knew he wasn't looking. Chilchuck could see the realization that spread across Laios’ face. The way lips crept up into a smile and his eyes lit up, glad that he’d actually been paying attention to his ramble.
Chilchuck guzzled his beer, feeling uneasy as Laios gave him a fervent look in return. For the next hour, the man continued on his monster rant, debunking myths, as well as making his own theories. Before, Chilchuck always thought that getting Laios to stop talking while he was on his tangent would be a blessing. But now he took awkward pauses mid-jabber to thank Chilchuck for listening with an expression full of warmth.. Almost like he still couldn't comprehend why someone would bother caring about these things and tried to reassure himself it truly was happening. And everytime, Chilchuck had to take another gulp of his drink while Laios had barely even drank half of his first one.
No matter how long it'd been, how diluted his feelings should have been, he couldn't help but feel the need to indulge in them. No matter how meaningless his words should have been, the impact was still there, and all Chilchuck could do was ease himself into embracing them.
A few drinks down, Chilchuck became the more talkative one. Going on his own rant about things ranging from the issues going on within his union to petty complaints about his customers. Since Laios had done most of the talking until now, he finally had the chance to touch his drink. Chilchuck made sure to keep the liquor coming for the both of them coming, after all he’d originally proposed to come here to get wasted and even if Laios was not drinking as much as Chilchuck, he wasn't a heavy drinker anyway. He assumed they were both just as equally intoxicated by now. It became apparent that it wasn’t the case when Laios started giving him advice on how to deal with his own customers. Laios, the man infamously known to have awful social skills, giving him advice for these kinds of things was indicative of how out of it he was.
The advice only got worse over time as Laios started pitching in his own first hand experience as back up for his ideas. That was enough for Chilchuck to call it a night, especially since he didn't want to burst out laughing at the words of an emotional Laios putting his whole heart into his stories.
The walk back from the tavern to the castle was out of question. Laios already had to take a moment to sit down on the porch of the building to collect himself before they went on their way. There was no way they could walk that far. At least he hadn't thrown up like Chilchuck had expected him to when he said that, that's what usually happened.
Chilchuck gave the man a hand to get up. Unsure whether to expect him to wobble as they walked, holding a hand to his back to keep him steady, just in case. Laios returned the gesture, putting a hand to his shoulder, drawing him closer by sandwiching Chilchuck between his body and arm. Holding each other close, they went on their way, looking for the nearest place to stay for the night.
Laios, still lively as ever, although appearing a bit dazed, babbled about how happy he was to have Chilchuck around once more. His words dipped into some foreign territory for Chilchuck, the kind of compliment he hadn't heard anyone say about him with such honesty in so long. He’d never heard Laios say anything like this to anyone else before, especially not with this intent. It was a pleasant feeling.
Chilchuck placed his free hand over Laios’ on his shoulder, trying to intertwine their fingers to reciprocate those words. He leaned closer, Laios obliged.