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English
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Published:
2018-04-29
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1,341
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1/1
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Green With Envy

Summary:

Fjord was not the jealous type. He really wasn’t.
(Except sometimes he was.)

MILD SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 16

Notes:

my dudes, I wrote this in a few hours and even I'm not entirely sure why. I just wanted a jealous Fjord overhearing Jester implying something happened with her and Caleb. Not a bad jealous tho, just a little jealous.
I just like jealous fjord

(also if i'm the only one still writing fjord/caleb then SO BE IT)

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Fjord was not the jealous type. He really wasn’t.

Orcs had an...unfavourable reputation of being possessive and greedy and (to a lesser degree) unwilling to part with anything they felt they had won. It was a status symbol, almost, to have many wives and sons and take villages from the settlers.

If there was one thing Fjord hated about his heritage, it was how those traits still existed somewhere inside his soul. He hated how much effort it took to stamp them out and wrestle them under control.

That was why he always tried to talk his way out of problems. That was why he disguised himself. That was why he filed and chipped his tusks down.

Fjord wasn’t the jealous type.

So he really didn’t know what emotion washed over him when he overheard Jester talking to Beau.

“It was really weird!” Jester was saying, gesturing enthusiastically as she told Beau the whole story. “It was like he was in a trance when the little grey light went into him. It was very strange.”

“And he talked during it?” Beau asked. She still looked tired, and her hair was falling out of its bun a little. Fjord spied a few bruises along her arms that he doubted she got falling out of bed.

“Caleb spoke! He mentioned his parents, which was weird, and about how he didn’t want to disappoint them.” Jester reached over and took a slice of bread from Fjord’s plate, quickly biting into it. “Fjord, don’t you think that’s weird?”

“Jester, I wasn’t quite paying attention,” Fjord admitted, finally letting the thoughts of his strange dreams and his patron disperse from his mind, “what were you two talking about?”

“Caleb asked me to help inspect his special package,” Jester said, lowering her voice for the last two words, a cheeky grin on her face.

Fjord wasn’t sure why his chest flushed hot and his stomach clenched and why Jester’s smirk suddenly irritated him.

He wasn’t sure why he suddenly felt that way and he hated it.

“She means the Beacon.” Beau said, sipping her drink. Fjord didn’t miss the little look she gave him, “he wanted to know more about it, so he asked Jester if she’d help.”

Jester turned and looked at Beau, but Beau kept her expression neutral.

“I ran into him earlier and he told me so, and I quote, ‘Jester can’t start a rumour’.” Beau said.

“Okay but he was very much coming onto me,” Jester protested, sitting back in her chair and arranging her cloak around her shoulders.

“Yeah, no. He wasn’t.” Beau glanced at Fjord again and he knew he must be going crazy because Beau never winked at anyone in her life, he was sure.

Jester huffed and quickly changed the topic of conversation.

Fjord could only mull over what the hell just happened.

***

“You heading out, Caleb?” Molly asked, looking up from his drink. It was only mid-afternoon but no one would deny them some downtime. Especially if said downtime ended up with some grudges being buried.

“My pen broke,” Caleb said, stopping briefly by the table. It was only Fjord, Molly and Yasha sat there (Jester had long since dragged Nott away on some ‘super secret mission’ that involved a fake moustache, and Beau was yet to come back to the inn from wherever she had gone earlier that day), but still, Caleb was determined to transfer and master those new spells, “I was going to quickly find somewhere that sells stationary.”

“You want some company with that?” Fjord asked, though it may have been his glass of whiskey talking.

“If you would like.” Caleb said, not leaving much room for conversation.

So Fjord stood up, ignoring the little eyebrow quirk of Molly’s, and followed Caleb as he left the inn.

They walked down the street together in a silence that wasn’t quite uncomfortable, as it was strained. Fjord spent most of the time digging around his mind for words to say, and Caleb spent that time knowing that their silence was awkward but not knowing or daring to break it.

So it was a relief when Fjord cleared his throat and just started speaking.

“So Jester told me you started looking into the Be- dodeca-thingy.” Fjord said, realising that they probably shouldn’t be having this conversation out on a public street, but it was too late to back down now.

“Was that how Jester phrased it?” Caleb asked, the barest hint of humour in his voice.

“Well, no.” Fjord said, idly scratching at his chin. “But that was how Beau said it. Jester just said something ‘bout your ‘special package' .”

Caleb flushed a little and Fjord felt that weird feeling in his chest suddenly burst forth. It wasn’t jealousy, he refused to believe it was jealousy. Fjord didn’t get jealous. Even when it came to a smart and powerful wizard who blushed in a pretty way and looked so peaceful when he read in front of a fire.

But Fjord wasn’t jealous.

He just wanted to be the one to make Caleb blush. Just not from embarrassment.

That was all.

“Well, that is…” Caleb said, struggling to find an appropriate word, “mortifying.” He settled on.

“Not to add to that, but Jester also tried to insist that you were coming onto her.” Fjord said, watching Caleb’s reaction carefully. “Beau shot down that idea pretty quickly.”

And Caleb honestly laughed.

It wasn’t a particularly long or lively laugh - it was stamped out almost as quickly as it started - but Fjord couldn’t stop looking at Caleb’s face.

“I feel I should be grateful for Beau saving my reputation.” Caleb said.

“Why? She know something I don’t.” Fjord teased.

“She knows that Jester isn’t the person I would come onto.” Caleb said, then he stopped dead in the street with a blank look on his face. Fjord’s face felt hot. Then Caleb shook his head and carried on walking, “I didn’t mean for that statement to sound that dirty. I think I have been spending to much time with Beau, her attitude seems to be rubbing off on me.”

It took another second for Fjord’s brain to restart and for him to catch up to Caleb on the street.

He couldn’t think of a way to carry on the conversation, not without straying into the territory that he only let himself think about when he was all alone. Or only when he was absolutely sure Molly was asleep.

“Hey, Caleb,” Fjord said, realising too late that he had no idea what to follow through with, “something’s been bothering me this last day or so.”

“It has?” Caleb asked, looking at him with some concern on his face.

“Not to sound childish,” Fjord said. He absently scratched his chin again, thinking through his words carefully, “but why did ask Jester to help with the- the dodecahedron?”

Caleb’s surprised expression surprised Fjord, but Caleb’s smile almost knocked him sideways.

“Jester was one the carrying it. And she is the only one who knows healing magic, should anything have gone.” Caleb said.

The air felt like it had been knocked out of Fjord’s lungs as the words sunk in. All at once, he realised he had been. Of course , Caleb was focused on the practicalities.

Fjord blinked and realised Caleb was watching him. What’s more, the smile was still there.

“Fjord…” Caleb’s voice was soft. He stopped walking, and gently put his hand on Fjord’s arm to stop him as well, “were you jealous?”

“No!” Fjord answered too quickly, not looking at Caleb’s face, and instead focusing on where his hand rested on his arm.

“If it bothered you that much, I’ll make sure to come to you first next time.” Caleb said, drawing his hand away but letting his fingers trail down Fjord’s skin. His smile was just a little teasing now, but there was also fondness there as well.

That was all it took.

A touch of the hand, and a warm smile, and Fjord knew he was royally fucked.

Notes:

Yo, I'm queenmoggy on tumblr and discord, have a nice day <3