HEY I DID A THING WITH JORIS AND ALTON

	It was a solid year and some odd months since Alton found himself with the company of a half hobbit man and his taste for tooth rotting romance novels that Alton found himself familiar with seeing him carry and read when they were not on the road. Like for now, in a backwater town where the most lively places were the taverns and they were stuck in one, holding down a table by the fireplace. Joris had himself cooped up in his chair with one of those books, fingering through the pages with patience in his movements and hunger in his eyes. Alton watched him absorb the book, it was interesting to watch the emotions flicker over the halflings eyes when he focuses.
	Alton enjoyed watching his eyes fixate on things, absorbing information and watching the thoughts in his head race. It was enjoyable and something he found admirable, he enjoyed people like Joris, a little too much so for his comfort sometimes, but he did. Looking away he waved the barmaid over to refill his mug of ale. While he made small conversation with the maiden he caught himself looking back over at Joris and followed his eyes drifting to the back of the bar at a man. He was probably bigger than Alton and better built, whereas Alton was more of an oddity in body form, more meant for flexibility and an aloof litheness to him, he can tell when someone else was packing better than him in the strength department.
	The corner of his mouth twitched slightly in annoyance, his eyes went back to the maiden and tipped her as she scooted away, back behind the bar to refill his mug. It ticked at the back of his head though in a way that was bothersome, he could not place why he seemed bothered by this. When the maiden returned with his ale he nodded and took a drink. He had no business or time for jealousy in either his head nor heart, logically speaking he knew his relationship with Joris was slightly off. Stealing kisses from him was fun as well as teasing him but he was a creature of nature. Charisma and playing people in his hand and head was a skill he knew how to play.
	Decidedly he drank the rest of his ale in one go, giving a teasing comment from Joris not to wait up before he stood up. Alton was one better suited for ignoring or distracting himself from trivial things like petty emotions like jealousy. He was no drunk, but he knew when he needed to loosen up or blow off some steam and that was the plan.
	This is how Alton found himself sauntering over the the man he had seen Joris eyeing earlier, he sized him up and broke into a smooth conversation about making a bet with him. He was part orc and he could tell by how he sized up Alton that this was going to be fun.
	“I bet I can beat you at arm wrestling,” Alton said, sliding a hand up the orc’s bicep with a slight grin. He was a bit dizzy and warm from the two drinks he had, it wasn’t enough to get him tipsy, but it was good enough to keep him loose.
	“Oh really?” the orc replied, raising an eyebrow at him.
	“Yeah, winner has to do what the loser says,” Alton says, squeezing his hand on the orc’s bicep with a grin, earning a slight flex beneath his palm and a familiar look in the orc’s eyes. One of confusion and curiosity, but not denial or rejection.
	“Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?”
	“It’s a humbling bet, less boring than the other way around, don’t you agree?”
	Alton watched the way the orc’s face and eyes shifted to one of pure curiosity and amusement at him. He pulled out a chair for the two and cleared off a table, sitting across the as they placed their elbows down and gripped arms. They counted down from five and at one, Alton’s foot ran up the length of the orc’s leg to his thigh under the table. This earned him a slight advantage as he shocked the orc at first, phasing him but he knew he was going to lose anyways. His hand slammed down with little resistance and he lost.
	Grinning Alton looked over the tavern, noticing at the table where Joris was at was now empty and Alton found himself frowning. Had he gone back to his room? That was no fun…
	“So loser, what is it that you want me to do?” the orc asked, leaning over at the table to smirk at Alton. This was not fun anymore.
	Alton leaned in a gave the orc a playful and flirtatious smile,“how much gold do you got?”
	“Fifty, why?”
	“Give me ten and use twenty to get yourself a room to jerk off in~” Alton said flirtatiously at the orc, holding his hand out.
	The first punch that came his way he dodged and flipped the table over at the orc, flinging mugs and coins over and onto the dirty floor. He skipped out of the tavern running as he heard loud cursing and slurs. The last thing he heard before the tavern door slammed shut behind him was the sound of the orc struggling on the floor to get up.
	Alton had found himself at the inn that he and Joris were sharing a room in,  they were able to get a two bedroom room this time due to sufficient funds and Alton’s ability to haggle with the innkeepers. He had not stopped running until the door to their room was shut and locked behind him. Giving out a sigh of relief he slumped against the door, giving himself a moment to breathe.
	“Did you enjoy flirting with the locals?” Joris’s voice came from inside the room, there was some spite in his voice. Altone sighed and turned around seeing the halfing getting up from a chair in the corner of the room, setting down the book he was reading on the chair and crossing his arms. This reminded Alton of the times he had gotten in trouble with his grandmother for doing something bad like scaring the neighbor girl with snakes to try and “cure her phobia of snakes”.
	Alton shook his head and started undressing, taking off his cloak and fumbling with the latch as he did so, “what’s it to you?”
	He heard Joris huff, “I’m your traveling partner so it should be my business when we have places to be Alton, I can’t believe you.”
	Alton felt himself eyeroll on instinct as he just peeled off his tunic and cloak altogether, tossing the fabric on the ground, frowning at Joris. “So I’m your traveling partner then? Then you don’t need to worry about what I do with others, I could've met you in the morning or something..”
	“T-that’s not the point, t-the point i-”
	“What’s the point Joris?” Alton interrupted, stepping towards him, staring at him intensely, slowly backing him up to the wall. He bent down and trapped Joris against the wall, leveling himself with him face to face. His hands were planted firmly on either side of Joris’s face, balancing him against the wall. Alton looked into Joris’s eyes, his lips twitching into a small smirk as he caught that flustered look blooming over his face.
	“If you have an issue with me wanting to shag strangers then you wouldn’t mind shagging me would you?” Alton asked this coyly, he was becoming a little more aware of what he was doing, what he was saying, but he liked being high on teasing him. Especially how Joris’s face and eyes blew up with shock at his words, getting more and more flustered by the second.
	“W-wh- I -w-wait, w-why would I  I-I mean you, psh what a-are you even, hahahaha, j-joke, you’re a f-funny man hahahaaaaa,” Joris stuttered out, looking away from Alton and up at the ceiling.
	“Yes I am, but I’m not joking now Joris,” Alton said, his voice shifting from teasing to serious, watching Joris stiffen up and tense. He licked his lips in thought and watched Joris’s eyes shift to his mouth at that and back at the ceiling, the ground, then focusing on the top of Alton’s head, “you know…”
	Alton dipped his head down to ghost his lips against Joris’s ear  and murmured softly, “I could make you scream you know…”
	Then he pulled back away from Joris, not taking a moment to look at him before he walked away to kick off his boots. “I’m tired though, it’s getting late and we’re leaving early,” Alton said, his voice shifting to its normal light tone as he climbed into his own bed, not noting at the half hobbit having a crisis.