Theo leaves Sarah's bedroom with a smile on his face. He smells the back of his hand and senses Sarah's sweet perfume on it, but his clothes also smell of alcohol, sweat, and blood, making him frown. "Eww…"
Not knowing where to go now, he puts his bag on his shoulder and walks along the tavern corridor. A few meters ahead, he sees a woman in simple clothes delivering clean towels to a guest who only puts an arm outside the door to grab them, a very pale and delicate arm, by the way.
Theo approaches and hears a familiar voice thanking the maid for the towels, "They are enough, thank you." The woman leaves, and the guest starts closing the door when his gaze meets Theo's, who smiles kindly. "Lorien?"
"Theo?" Lorien, who hides even more behind the door, showing only part of his face, looks startled to see Theo. "What are you doing here?" As soon as he asks, Theo explains. "I just came to bring Sarah back yesterday…"
He avoids saying more so as not to start rumors about Sarah, but Lorien immediately frowns. "You stayed together until now?" The white-haired boy asks in a clearly upset tone, but when Theo hesitates to answer, he just shakes his head. "Never mind, it is none of my business anyway."
"See you," Lorien tries to close the door, but Theo places his hand on it and gives Lorien a friendly glance. "Look, I do not have a room, and I smell like shit, so maybe you could let me use your bathroom so I do not have to pay for a room just to take a bath. And I can use that money to pay you breakfast, what do you think?"
"Use my bathroom?" Lorien's voice trembles when he speaks, and the boy quickly shakes his head. "You cannot come in!" His extreme reaction makes Theo step back. "I understand. I am sorry for bothering you. I will be on my way. Have a good day, friend."
Theo turns to leave, but Lorien makes a sorry expression and calls him again. "Theo! I meant you cannot come in now because I am changing. Just give me a minute, please." Lorien asks, and Theo smiles at him. "Of course."
Lorien closes the door, and Theo keeps staring at it. A few seconds pass, and Theo's expression grows more curious, but he just watches the door in silence. After a few more seconds, Theo lets out a slightly frustrated sigh and gives in to his curiosity, approaching the door and placing his ear against it.
Since the door is not very thick, Theo can hear Lorien running from one side to the other and throwing things on the floor. "Where is that? Where???" The white-haired boy takes more than a minute, apparently rummaging through the room for something, which he ends up not finding.
When Theo hears Lorien approaching the door again, he steps back and stands in the middle of the corridor with an innocent expression on his face. Lorien opens the door and gestures for him to enter. "Come in."
Theo enters the room, and Lorien quickly closes the door. When Theo turns around, he is surprised to see Lorien wrapped in several towels enough to completely cover his small body, leaving only part of his face visible. "Are you fine, Lorien?"
"Yeah," Lorien keeps a distance from Theo and points toward another door. "The bathroom is over there. I have not finished getting ready yet, so-" Theo notices the boy seems apprehensive, so he quickly heads toward the bathroom. "I will not take long."
Lorien nods and watches Theo enter the bathroom, but does not close the door, which makes the white-haired boy quickly turn to the other side.
Inside the bathroom, Theo is surprised to smell an intense floral perfume, very pleasant and quite feminine, actually. He looks around and sees a modest bathtub in the corner, full of water that looks very clean to have been used recently.
There is also some foam in the corners of the bathtub and many flower petals floating in the water, which carry that pleasant feminine scent. Theo has to hold back laughter, imagining that even Sarah's bathtub would not look as feminine as that.
"Is everything alright in there?" Lorien asks while fighting the urge to peek at Theo through the open door. "Yeah, I am going to use your bathtub, if you do not mind." Theo comments, and Lorien quickly makes a concerned expression. "Oh! I forgot to refill it with clean water. Do not use that one, I already used it."
"Don't worry, this water is much cleaner than any bath I ever took in Kriegfall," Theo's voice echoes, and Lorien also hears him entering the water and letting out a relieved sigh. "Ahhh, the temperature is great too."
Lorien's face begins to blush while his eyes shine, drawn toward the bathroom. "Ehh… there is soap and shampoo on the floor beside the bathtub." Lorien comments in a friendly tone, and Theo quickly finds them in luxurious and delicate bottles.
Just by smelling those products, he already puts them back in place. "I will avoid using them. I do not want to end up smelling-" Theo stops when he realizes his words might sound rude, but he hears Lorien laughing outside the bathroom. "Smelling like a girl? Haha, I don't think it fits your style, too."
Theo also laughs inside the bathroom, and Lorien speaks to him again. "I like using my things, but there must be something more neutral somewhere." As soon as he says that, Theo starts looking around and sees a cabinet where the bathroom hygiene products must be, but hanging on the cabinet door is something he did not expect to see in a man's bathroom: a pair of panties.
The piece of underwear is small, made of white lace fabric, and quite cute. Seeing that, Theo does not know what to think, but he does not leave the bathtub. Outside, Lorien's voice sounds again. "Did you find it? Maybe I should go in there to get it for you?"
"No need," Theo answers quickly. He is not the shy type, but that underwear could make the atmosphere very awkward. "Oh, alright…" Lorien hears Theo moving in the bathtub for two minutes, but that feels like an eternity to him, and holding back the urge to peek drives him crazy.
When Lorien hears Theo's footsteps leaving the bathroom, the boy turns and sees him wearing only a small pink towel around his waist, and Lorien ends up seeing a considerable bulge between his legs. Theo is also completely wet, with shining water drops running across his large body, which leaves Lorien speechless. "You… you… just a towel…"
"Oh, this?" Theo points to the towel around his waist. "I had to borrow your towel, but I guess you do not need this one right now, correct?" Theo smiles, but Lorien seems to blush and grow nervous. "But… but it is wet, it will not dry you."
"It is not necessary," Theo smiles confidently. "My body is actually very hot; I only need a minute to dry naturally." As soon as he says that, Lorien begins nodding repeatedly. "Very hot indeed… very…" The white-haired boy is clearly shaken by the situation and starts trying to avoid looking at Theo.
Theo notices Lorien's state, but seems to enjoy teasing the poor boy who keeps avoiding him more and more. "Your hair!" Lorien comments, and Theo makes a confused expression. "What about it?" He asks and sees Lorien run to the bathroom, still wrapped in several towels. "I will get a comb for you to use, I think there should be one in that cabinet-"
When Lorien mentions the bathroom cabinet, Theo can already imagine what will happen next. He sees Lorien reach the bathroom door and then freeze for a few seconds before turning to him with a shocked and embarrassed look.
Both know Theo saw the panties, so he does not even try to pretend. "Lorien, I am sorry-" But before Theo can finish speaking, Lorien blushes like a tomato, panicking. "You… you… you have to leave!" The boy goes into the bathroom and throws Theo's clothes and his bag to him. "I really need to finish getting ready."
"Sure," Theo gets dressed quickly while Lorien locks himself in the bathroom, then he approaches the door and speaks in a gentle tone. "Don't worry, Lorien, I don't care about your personal preferences. I hope it is not a problem for our friendship."
Lorien stays silent, and Theo can hear him sighing on the other side of the door. "You should not have seen that…" The boy says in a sad tone, and Theo laughs kindly. "But I did, now let us move on. I will leave you in peace and go downstairs to order that breakfast I promised you. Is that alright?"
"Alright…" Lorien whispers in a shy but cheerful tone. "I will come down in a few minutes and meet you." Hearing that, Theo feels relieved and leaves Lorien's room.
Theo goes down the inn's stairs and finds quite a lot of people there, most of them young like him. He goes straight to the counter and orders a full breakfast for three people, paying with one of the gold coins Eruina left in his bag.
He is still not used to holding a gold coin since, in his life as a street orphan in Kriegfall, he only managed to get a few bronze coins, of which a thousand are needed to equal one gold. But since Eruina mentioned that gold was nothing to her and would also be worthless inside the Academy, he does not mind using it to have some comfort now. And he certainly owes a good breakfast to Lorien and Sarah.
While the cooks prepare Theo's order, he turns and takes a good look at the people around. Some nobles clearly recognize Theo and start whispering about him, but without approaching, which draws even more attention to him.
Although they mostly say good things about Theo, he does not feel that any of those people are friendly toward him. However, a tall man from a trio gives him a curious look, which becomes friendly when the man notices the golden ring on Theo's finger.
"Hey brother," The man signals to Theo and raises his hand, revealing a similar golden ring. "It looks like we are classmates. Do you want to join us?" The man seems friendly, and since standing there being the target of comments is not pleasant at all, Theo sits with the trio.
"Good morning, Sir." The tall man nods kindly to Theo. "The name is Matheo Belden, pleased to meet you." He speaks politely, and Theo nods slightly. "Just Theo."
"Theo?" The other two guys look at Theo with surprised and admiring expressions. "So it is really you? The guy who knocked down the half-giant? The Vaelmont bastard?"
Hearing that, Theo looks at the guys with a cold expression, and Matheo quickly scolds his friends. "What is wrong with you? Nobody likes being called a bastard, you idiots!"
Theo turns his attention back to Matheo, who smiles at him with a sorry expression. "Do not be angry at those idiots; you became famous quickly, and this kind of malicious nickname spreads even faster."
"I see," Theo does not truly blame those guys, but cannot help feeling angry at the Professor who created that offensive title. And of course, Theo does not intend to leave that unanswered.