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Sophie’s favourite moments in the whole world are the times she spends at rest with Asbel and Richard. How after a game of cards they’ll curl up on the settee by the fire, her head resting against Asbel’s chest. His constant heartbeat like soft ocean waves, soothing her chest. Sometimes their hands will tangle together; Asbel’s into Sophie’s, into Richard’s. Sometimes she does not know whose hand she is holding, whose hand is stroking the back of her hair.
Lately, though, she’d noticed a shift.
Richard and Asbel have been spending more time alone together. She catches them whispering together, stealing small moments when she’s busy. Richard’s hand lingers on Asbel’s waist. Asbel’s gaze follows Richard across the room.
They don’t say a thing, but honestly, Sophie isn’t blind.
Her feelings have become more complicated since she absorbed the Little Queen. The last time she saw him, she made a point to ask Malik about it; “I’m happy to see them become closer, but at the same time, it makes something in my chest feel sore.”
He rubbed his stubble in that contemplative way of his, and smiled at her with the fond look of a parent watching their kid growing up. “Well, Sophie, it sounds a lot like you’re jealous.”
“Jealous.” She tasted the word on her tongue. It didn’t feel right.
“Now who you’re jealous of, I’m not sure,” Malik said, regarding her with a grin. “Tell me, do you ever get a kind of warm feeling in your chest, or butterflies in your stomach when you see Asbel or Richard?”
Sophie analysed her own feelings. “Yes,” she ascertained.
“For Asbel? Or for Richard?”
“Yes,” said Sophie, firmly.
As it turned out, feeling this way about two people was apparently a somewhat unusual thing.
As Malik explained, however, unusual didn’t mean wrong.
“As it turns out, I’ve been in that sort of situation myself, a long time ago,” he mused.
“So what should I do, Captain?”
“Well, you could tell them how you feel,” he said. “Or, you could try something bold. What do you think?”
Sophie decided later that she was right to come to the Captain. He was old enough that he pretty much knew everything.
The hour is late. In Richard’s rooms, Asbel snuggles up close to Richard on the settee. It still feels a little strange; just the two of them. But more distracting are the jitters under his skin, the anticipation building in his gut.
Maybe tonight is the night he dredges up the courage to kiss Richard.
They have danced around each other and their feelings for long enough. He is certain Richard feels as he does, but the King refuses to initiate. He isn’t sure why, although he has a sinking suspicion it has something to do with the heavy mantle of guilt Richard refuses to remove, even now.
How do I get to be deserving of a friend such as you, Asbel? He has asked, more than once.
Asbel tells him not to be silly, that he’ll always be Richard’s friend. He’d very much like to be more than Richard’s friend, if he ever manages to pluck up the courage.
Richard’s hand lingers in Asbel’s. He feels himself sweating copiously.
Things are dire when Asbel Lhant has to be the one to take romantic initiative.
Just as he’s plucking up the courage to lean in, there’s a knock at the door. Despite himself, Asbel can’t help but feel relief for the interruption.
Richard shuffles back from Asbel to a more respectful distance, shooting Asbel a glance, and calls, “Come in.”
It’s Sophie. Something like guilt gnaws at him, for her to find the two of them together, without her. It feels like he’s been caught doing something secret.
But she doesn't look put out, thank goodness. She strides straight up to him. “Asbel, I need your help with something.”
Asbel exchanges a glance with Richard. “Oh– yeah, of course.” What is it, this late at night? “Whatever it is, I’ll do my best to help.”
She fixes him straight in the eye, and doesn’t as much as blink as he asks him, “I want you to teach me how to kiss.”
It takes a moment for the words to permeate, and when they do, Asbel finds himself spluttering. “You– you want me to– to–”
“To teach me how to kiss,” she repeats, calmly and clearly.
What about Asbel has given her the bizarre impression that he would be the optimal teacher for such a thing?
He looks in desperation to Richard for help, but unhelpfully, the King just laughs.
Sophie frowns. “Did I say something wrong?”
“N-No– no, of course not, it’s just–”
Asbel’s hurried dismissals only seem to serve to convince Sophie more firmly that she had done something amiss. Her face slots into a frown.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
Asbel only seems able to trip over his own tongue. He reaches for his drink of water to try and lubricate himself, and helpfully, manages to swallow it the wrong way.
Richard thumps him on the back as he starts to choke. “You’ve done nothing wrong, Sophie,” he says gently, his words discordant to the way he pounds Asbel’s back with a fist. “I fear you just made Asbel a little shy. He’s not used to such forward advances.”
“Was it too bold?” she queries.
“I, for one, enjoyed it,” Richard says, as Asbel’s coughing subsides. His eyes gleam.
Of course Richard is enjoying this.
“Are you alright, Asbel? Don’t die,” Sophie says.
“I’ll try my best not to,” Asbel says, even as his coughing finally starts to subside. He shoots a shy glance up at Sophie, who still stands over him, waiting patiently.
“You– really want me to teach you how to kiss?” he asks helplessly.
“Yes. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Well we’re– I adopted you, Sophie. Legally, you’re my daughter now.”
She cocks her head. “You can’t kiss your daughter?”
He flushes down to his roots. “Not in Lhant you can’t.”
Her frown deepens. “Even if I’m a daughter now, we were still friends, first… right?”
The words are soft and questioning, and they kick Asbel in the shin. He’d adopted Sophie because he wanted to give her a place in the world, roots to anchor herself too. But above all else, she remains his dear friend.
“Of course we are,” he affirms her, standing to take her arms under his hands.
She looks at him from under her eyelashes. “So you’ll help?”
His mouth goes dry.
Richard bursts into laughter. “She’s got you there, Asbel.”
He turns to glare at him. “Well, why don’t you help, Richard?”
He lounges back on the settee like a cat making itself at home, golden hair splayed over his shoulders as he watches them with a warm smile. “Why shouldn’t I? Sophie has grown into a beautiful young woman. If she asked me to, I would not dream to turn her down.”
Sophie breaks into a sunny smile. “You’ll teach me, Richard?”
“Certainly. But I would like to know first… why do you want to learn?”
“I…” she quietens at the question. Fidgets.
Richard clears his throat, serious now. “Is it because of Asbel and I?”
What does Richard mean?
Sophie bites her lip, and nods.
“Malik told me I was feeling jealous.”
“You… you were feeling…” Once again the idea is so unexpected it takes time to settle in Asbel’s head. Sophie was jealous. Of him and Richard. Sophie wanted to kiss him.
Oh.
Sophie grips her opposite forearm, gazing down towards the floor. “The two of you suddenly started spending time together by yourselves, and I…”
“You were feeling left out?” Richard suggests gently.
“Kind of, but... I saw how close the two of you were. I wanted that, too.”
“With Asbel?” Richard asks.
“With both of you,” she clarifies.
It takes a moment for this declaration to sink in. Asbel’s used to be lost for words, but even Richard seems unable to give an answer to this. He gazes at her, eyes clear and wide. In the end, it’s Asbel who speaks first.
“B-both?” he asks.
She nods, firm and decisive. “Both.”
If Asbel has ever felt something more than friendship for Sophie, it’s not something he’s allowed. Sophie is his adopted daughter. But as she rightly pointed out; she was his friend, first.
“Sorry, Sophie,” he says, rubbing the back of his head. “I never knew how you felt… I’m sorry for leaving you out.”
She accepts this effortlessly, taking the hand Asbel offers. She’s so soft and warm.
He clears his throat. “I… I hope I’ll be a decent teacher. To tell the truth, I don’t have any experience.”
Sophie pulls back from him to study him ruthlessly. “What do you mean? You kiss Richard, don’t you?”
“I… hadn’t got to that part yet.”
Sophie’s disappointment in him lances through him. He can’t even bear to look at what expression Richard is wearing.
“But you want to, right?” she asks him.
“Well…” he sneaks a glance at Richard, who looks very interested in his lace cuffs. He swallows. “Yeah, I do.”
She folds her arms. “Well, hurry up and kiss him already.”
“N-now?” stutters Asbel.
Yes, apparently she meant now. She looks at him as though to say, I’m waiting.
He gazes at Richard with the same look of a deer in the headlights. There’s a moment’s silence, broken when the King bursts out into raucous laughter.
“W-why are you laughing?” Asbel demands, afraid for a brief moment that Richard is laughing at him.
But Richard shakes his head, wiping away tears of mirth. “Oh my dear Asbel, I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing at us. Sophie’s right; we’ve been very foolish.”
“Ah…” Asbel scratches at his temple, and attempts a smile. The laughter had broken the tension. “Yeah, I guess we have.”
His self-consciousness evaporates when Richard steps forward boldly, and places a gloved hand on his cheek. He can’t focus on anything but Richard, and Richard’s lips.
“Shall we?” says Richard quietly.
He licks his lips, and nods.
Richard leans in. The kiss they share is clumsy. Asbel has no idea what to do with his hands. Richard takes them and puts them around his waist, thank goodness. He has no idea if he’s doing this right, but he soon forgets about doing it properly entirely. Kissing Richard is like stepping into a puddle of sunshine, and he feels himself warming up from the inside out. He’d never believe his lips are so soft.
When Richard finally pulls away, Asbel is left red faced and breathless.
He barely has a moment to recover when Sophie approaches him. Richard gives her a nod and grin of encouragement.
“He’s all yours, Sophie. I warmed him up for you.”
“Richard!” Asbel all but squeaks.
She squints her eyes at him. “Is it OK?”
“Yeah… yeah, it’s OK, Sophie.”
Sophie doesn’t mess around. With his permission, she leans up onto her toes to kiss him, hands planted on Asbel’s shoulders.
Sophie’s lips are softer, and she feels so slight in his arms. Asbel plans to keep the kiss chaste so as to not overwhelm her.
Sophie has no such plans.
If he wasn’t completely losing his head he’d wonder why she asked for practice, because it’s very clear Sophie knows absolutely what she's doing. Her tongue swipes against his lip and the electric tingle it shoots through his body has him gasping. Sophie takes advantage of his weak defenses and presses her tongue inside his mouth.
It’s. a lot.
She’s beaming when she comes up for air, hardly rattled at all apart from a smattering of pink upon her cheeks. Asbel’s knees, meanwhile, have turned to jelly.
“That was good,” she affirms, as though she’d just enjoyed a delicious crab omelette.
“Y-yeah?” he asks.
“I think I need more practice, though,” she says, and Asbel feels like he’s going to keel over. At least, until she looks over her shoulder at Richard. “You’ll help me, won’t you Richard?”
“Well– yes, I don’t see why not–” Despite his earlier bravado, Richard looks quite nervous, having seen the wreck Sophie has made of him.
Let him see how he likes it, Asbel thinks.
It turns out they both have a lot to learn, and Sophie turns out to be a fantastically enthusiastic teacher.