Who Needs Words?
by
Lady Robyn

It was raining again. It had rained the day before, and the day before
that, and it would probably rain again the next day, and the next. Marron
sighed as he stared out the window, idly watching the rain pound on the
tender leaves of a nearby tree.
The problem wasn't that he didn't like the rain. Quite the contrary,
actually, he loved it. The problem was that he and the rest of the team
were all cooped up in a small, two room cabin and would remain there until
they were called out on another job.
Big Mama called it a vacation. Marron called it a training exercise in
patience. Just because he maintained a cool, calm and collected exterior,
didn't mean that he wasn't going as stir crazy as the rest of his friends.
Perhaps he even wanted out more than any of the others, with the possible
exception of Carrot, because being closed in here with nothing to do gave
him time to think, and some of the subjects his mind kept dwelling on were
things he didn't want to deal with. So he entertained himself by watching
the rain.
Unfortunately, for someone with an active mind like Marron's, watching
little droplets of water hit leaves and trail down the window glass
couldn't serve to keep the mind from wandering for very long. A fact
Marron bitterly lamented as he had to once again wrench his thoughts out of
the path they had been taking. He sighed again.
"Darling! Where are you going?" Chocolat's voice demanded. Marron turned
his gaze from the window, relived to have something, however temporary, to
distract him.
Carrot had frozen half way out the window, his lower body hanging out
while his upper body was still in the cabin. He had been attempting to
sneak out while the girls had been in the other room. Too bad they had
come in at just the wrong moment.
"I was- uh, nowhere! I was going nowhere!" Carrot vainly lied.
"Were you going to go to town to meet the girls again, Carrot?" Tira
demanded.
As the argument proceeded, Marron turned his gaze back to the rain. It
was the same old argument they had been having at least three times a day
since they had arrived. Invariably, Carrot would be dragged back into the
cabin and beaten with whips or any other object the girls found handy. It
was so common, it couldn't even distract him properly anymore.
He toyed with the idea of reading one of his books, but he had finished
all of them within the first few days of their arrival here, back before it
had started raining. How he wished he hadn't done that! The weather had
been so beautiful, and there were woods and a stream nearby. He could have
gone and watched the water rushing by, or just enjoyed the sound of the
wind in the leaves. Oh well. It was too late to change the past now.
My, but it was raining hard. Come to think of it, the cabin was getting
quite cold as well. The rain had brought with it the colder temperatures.
Perhaps they should start a fire? They didn't have any wood. Oh well.
As if reading Marron's thoughts, Gateau wandered out of the adjoining
bedroom where he had been doing his daily workout. "It seems to be getting
a little cold in here. I think I'm going to go get some firewood."
"I agree it's getting cold, Gateau, but all the wood will be wet. How
could we start a fire with it?" Chocolat asked, looking up from where she
had been attempting to seduce Carrot by removing all of her clothes, again.
Gateau blushed and scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Oh
yeah. I didn't think of that."
Marron stood up, smoothing out his robes. "I can ignite the damp wood
with my magic. It would be very simple."
Gateau smiled at him in that funny way that made his heart flutter and his
insides quiver. Marron hated it when he did that. "Well, that solves that
problem. Guess I'll go get the wood then."
"I'll come with you," Marron volunteered, without really knowing what had
provoked him to do it. "Maybe I just really want to get out of this
cabin," he thought to himself. "Or maybe I should stop lying to myself in
my own thoughts," he added with a small, bitter smile on his face.
Those glorious blue eyes regarded Marron with an expression of pleased
surprise in them. "Really? You want to come?"
Marron shrugged noncommittally. "I need to get out. Besides, I like the
rain."
"Suit yourself. I'll be glad to have your company." Gateau began moving
for the door, followed closely by Marron.
"Hey! No trying to pervert my younger brother!" Carrot shouted before he
was promptly attacked by Chocolat again. Tira's yells could be heard for
several feet outside the building.
Marron and Gateau walked silently for a long time, just letting the rain
beat down on them, soaking their hair and clothes. Marron kept his eyes
trained firmly on the wet ground, while Gateau cast covert glances at his
beautiful teammate. In his mind, Marron never looked more beautiful than
when he was wet. Of course, he was sure he would be even more beautiful if
he was wet and smiling, but that was a lot to ask and he knew it. For now,
just having Marron walking next to him, voluntarily no less, was enough.
It wasn't long before they arrived in a section of the woods that had
obviously seen better days. Many of the trees in the area were dead. Just
perfect for becoming fire wood. As Gateau set about breaking one of the
trees down so he could make it into smaller pieces for the fire, he asked
Marron, "Do you know what killed all these trees?"
"Hm." The dark eyes roamed over the burnt out area, searching for the
signs he knew must be there. It didn't take long for him to identify the
residue of the magic that had caused it. From there it was fairly simple
to figure out what had happened. "It seems that an inexperienced and
untrained mage passed through the area. Maybe on their way to get
training, as there is a small school not too far from here. I would guess
that they tried to start a fire and it got a little out of control."
"What happened?" Gateau asked, pausing in his work.
"Well, the mage didn't die. They were probably just scared. Something
managed to put the fire out before it got too wild." Marron walked over to
the nearest tree, running his hand along the scarred bark. "It seems that
it may have started raining. The pattern of the burns certainly indicate
that it did."
"Rains a lot around here, doesn't it?" Gateau remarked, returning to the
wood cutting.
"It most assuredly does."
Silence fell again, but it wasn't an awkward silence. At least Gateau
didn't think it was. He was used to Marron not saying anything. Marron,
however, found himself profoundly uncomfortable. By this point he had a
fairly good idea of why Gateau could get to him as no one but his brother
could. He wasn't stupid. He was, however, inexperienced with this sort of
thing and had no idea how he should go about telling Gateau how he really
felt.
Seconds later, Gateau removed his need to think about it. He had finished
chopping up what he thought was a sufficient amount of wood and had glanced
to Marron to tell him they could go back. All words where taken from him
when he saw him. Marron was standing with his back to him, one hand still
resting on the tree trunk. His long black hair fell in a damp cascade down
his back, clinging to the wet fabric. His clothes were melded to his
flesh, giving hints as to the perfect body they concealed, that Gateau had
only been able to see once or twice.
And to top it all off, Marron was shivering slightly. You had to look
very closely to see it, but Gateau was looking closely. Temporarily
forgetting the firewood, he walked up behind Marron and wrapped his arms
around him. Not in the usual way he did when he was hitting on him, but in
a gentle, caring way.
Marron's body stiffened, but then relaxed back into the embrace. "What
are you doing, Gateau?" he asked wearily, not particularly upset.
It took Gateau several minutes to reply, as he was so shocked that Marron
had actually leaned into him instead of pulling away. "You- you looked
cold."
"Ah," was all Marron said in reply. What Gateau didn't know was that this
time, Marron's silence wasn't because he had nothing to say, like it
usually was. Marron had at least a thousand things running through his
head that he wanted to confess. He was just too dazed at finally allowing
himself to relax in Gateau's arms that all words were swept away.
Eventually though, Marron managed to collect himself and pulled away from
Gateau slightly, turning around to face him. Gateau didn't release his
grip on Marron's waist, but he did relax it a little. A few strands of
Marron's hair were clinging to his pale face, and Gateau reached up with
one hand and brushed them back. "You are so beautiful."
Gateau's earlier speculations on how Marron would look his most beautiful
wet and smiling, were proven at that moment, when Marron smiled warmly up
at him. The world faded away from around them. There was just he and
Marron. Beautifully smiling Marron. And the smile was for him. He could
die happy, now.
Unable to help himself, he blurted out the only words on his mind.
"Marron, I love you."
That ruined the moment. Marron's smile faded, and he looked away to the
encircling trees. Gateau felt his heart stop, but it started beating
faster again when Marron stepped closer to him and rested his head on his
shoulder, sliding his own arms around Gateau's waist.
Finally he spoke. "I've been so cold to you all this time. How can you
love me, Gateau?"
Gateau shrugged, tightening his arms around Marron slightly. "I don't
know the how, why or wherefore, Marron. I just know I do. It's one of the
two truths I have that will never change."
Marron leaned back a little and looked up at him. "Two truths?" he asked,
quizzically, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Gateau smiled, removing one arm from around Marron, albeit
reluctantly, and holding up a hand. He raised one finger. "One, I love
Marron." He lifted a second finger. "Two, I have beautiful muscles."
Marron laughed quietly, leaning more heavily into the embrace as Gateau
replaced his arm around him.
Gateau sighed contentedly. "You know, even if it never goes farther than
this between us, Marron, it will have been enough for me. Just getting to
feel you in my arms like this, even for a little while. I don't need
anything more."
"You really expect me to believe that?" Marron's muffled voice inquired.
Gateau chuckled. "No, not really. I was just trying to be a little
romantic. I guess I'm not real good at it. You've always been better with
words than I have, even if you don't speak a lot. What would you say at a
time like this, Marron?"
The smaller figure of Marron pulled away slightly and looked up into
Gateau's face, meeting his eyes. A small smile turned up the corners of
his lips. "I would say, who needs words?" he murmured, placing one hand
on the back of Gateau's head and pulling him down for a kiss. Gateau had
never been so happy, but then, neither had Marron.
Eventually they ended their romantic interlude and gathered up the wood,
carrying it back to the cabin. They kept sending shy smiles at each other
the whole walk back, and when they arrived at the cabin, though everything
was the same on the surface, both of them knew things would never be the
same again.

Owari