[C][AU] The Travelling Show

"Shirt?" he questioned, as if he'd never actually heard the word before.

And, really, he hadn't. He'd never worn one, either. He'd seen people wear them, but never heard them by name.

His people rarely wore anything besides short lion cloths or decorative skirts, like the ones Ti favoured. The only time he'd come in contact with shirts were when he entertained people, and those people were far more concerned with losing their clothes than explaining what they were.

Ti's unsureness threw him off guard.

"Yeah, you know, a shirt."

He pulled down the hem of the tophe was wearing to show what he meant.

His eyes dropped to Amr's hand when he tugged at his shirt, and it honestly took him a long moment to make the connection.

"Oh, so that's what they're called!"

There was one question he'd always had put to rest.

"My people don't have them."

He had to grin as Ti made the connection. It seemed absurd that he didn't know what one was. It was a culture difference that Amr didn't expect.

"I see."

He hummed for a moment, looking at Ti's bare chest.

"Then it doesn't matter!"

He wasn't going to start making Ti do things for the comfort of others.

"Okay."

Ti picked up the tea tin. "Let's go."

he was both excited and nervous about meeting Amr's brother. What was he like? Would he like him? How awkward would the language barrier be?

Amr slipped his fingers into Ti's hand and lead him to the castle. He had to slow his pace a little, realising the Ti's legs were a fair bit shorter then his. It felt a bit mean if he was power walking while Ti was jogging next to him.

He eased his pace a little more when they got to the castle, trying to remember which way it was to the training room. Each corridor seemed to be the same, and just lead onto another corridor that looked no different. In the end, it was one of the mice that's showed him a way. Squeaking at them both until they followed. Those creatures were a lot more intelligent then he first gave them credit for.

As soon as he entered to room he was confronted with a very pissed off looking prince.

"You're late."

Ti followed behind Amr, admiring the mouse that led them through the castle.

He recognised the prince from their correspondence the night before. He'd been the uptight man that Ti had mentioned to Amr earlier.

Ti stayed quiet when the prince fumed.

"Better late than never," Fleck spoke as he approached them. He was hoping that would save some of Amr's skin.

Dick's lips were set in a thin line and his constant glare didn't budge.

"He is stil late."

"Sorry sorry," Amr apologised, waving a hand in the air. "I got distracted being... diplomatic." He gave Ti a secretive grin, squeezing his hand.

"This is Ti, by the way. He is from the camp that landed next to us. They were super kind and welcoming. I want to introduce him to my brother - he makes this really nice tea that is tastes like the tea back home."

Dick's glare wavered once before it was back on Amr. Now there was colour in his cheeks.

"So you have been drinking tea while everyone else has been training?"

Ti squeezed Amr's hand back, sharing in his smile.

When he was introduced, he raised his free hand in a little wave. "Hi."

The comment about tea had Ti biting his lip a little. Drinking tea and... other things.

"Dick, you were the one that sent him off." Fleck dropped a hand on Dick's shoulder to try and calm his building anger. "Give him a little break. He'll be on time next time."

Dick huffed at the truth.

"Fine. But be on time next time. We all need to be prepared to for when we retrieve the red lion. Then you all need to have your teamwork up to scratch."

With that he left, presumably to butt heads with someone else. Presumably Anna.

"Thanks for the save." Amr grinned at Fleck, clapping him on the shoulder.

Although, from Dick's head butting with Anna, he was soon learning that Dick was, mostly, all bark and no bite.

"It's not free." Fleck clapped Amr back. "You owe me one."

That was hardly a daunting thought, though. Fleck would likely forget that Amr owed him before he came up with an idea for what Amr could do for him.

"Ti, right?" Fleck grinned down at the blue skinned boy. "I'm Fleck nice to meet y-"

He cringed when he heard Anna literally growling behind him, words cutting off. "Sorry, I'm gonna go save Dick from being murdered. Catch you round."

"Come on," he said, tugging on Ti's hand.

They stood out in the training room like a sore thumb. Everyone was intensely practicing in the battle suits while himself and Ti were in casual clothing. The only other person that stood out was his brother, sitting in a corner minding his own business.

"Hey, Tik! There is someone I want to you meet!" He presented Ti in front of his brother, fingers still interlocked. "Tik, this is Ti. An alien from a near by camp. Ti, this is my brother Tik!"

Tik glanced up from staring at his fingers tapping on his knee at his brother's call.

His eyes trailed slowly over Ti as they were presented in front of him. The bruises on their torso told Tik a story as old as time with his brother.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't want to meet your whores? Even less so when they're foreign." It was something that they'd argued about plenty of times before. Amr fell in 'love' and had to introduce his newest bedwarmer to his brother, and within days they were cast aside for the next person or gadget for Amr to fawn over.

mercifully, Ti hadn't understood Tik's comment at all, and just smiled brightly and held out the tea tin to the seated man. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Tik. Here, Amr said you would like this."

His smile stayed bright and cheery. On there was a slight tilt in his head.

"This is different," He insisted. "You know; new year, new me kind of thing... But in space. Ti is different from the others."

He knew he was rattling out an old tune, but he truly believed it this time.

"By the way, he says it is nice to meet you. Also, he brought you tea he made himself. It's like hibiscus tea, I tried some earlier."[/i]

"You've been 'new year, new me'-ing for the past twenty years. I gave up believing in a 'new you' a long time ago."

He drew up to his full height. Shorter than Amr, but definitely tall enough to intimidate Ti with the way he stood over him and glared down at him.

"I don't want your whore's bribes to make me like them."

He nudged past his brother, shaking his head as he walked away.

That stung a little.

"I'm not asking you to like him, I just asking you to try the tea," he said as Tik nudged past him.

He dropped the cheery smile now there is no point even trying to pretend that the conversation went well. Tik's body language said it all.

"Sorry. He is just a bit grumpy being stuck here," Amr lied, arm wrapping around Ti's shoulder. "He shouldn't of taken it out on you."

"Don't want to."

Tik shoved past Fleck roughly, and left the Italian staring after him, rubbing at his arm.

Ti leaned against Amr when his arm rested around his shoulders.

"He doesn't like the fact that I'm a whore," Ti corrected in a quiet voice. "You could see it in his face."

His brows furrowed in frustration. "Having sex with a lot of people doesn't make me any less of a person."

"Of course it doesn't. Sex doesn't define you."

He pulled Ti down so they were sitting side by side on the bench, thighs touching. Arm still was still wrapped around Ti's shoulder, pulling close to his chest.

"Besides, that isn't the reason he doesn't like you. Besides, how will he know?"

Amr knew the answer to his own question.

"He knows we've had sex. The proof of it is all over my skin."

His hand raised to touch the mark on his neck, then traced down to touch another mark right next to his nipple. The easiness in the way they touched each other considering they'd only known each other for a few short hours gave away just as much as the bruises littering his skin did.

He set the tea tin down, firmly enough that it made a noise that drew the closest person's attention. That being Belen. Belen's eyes trailed over Ti and Amr, before she jerked her chin at Ti. 'She okay?' Belen mouthed at Amr.

Ti looked like he was stewing in anger.

He was silent as he watched Ti inspect the marks he gave him, then setting the tea down not too gently.

Amr spotted Belen looking at them, the nodded at her question.

For once in his life he churned words over in his head, thinking about what to say. He didn't want to admit the true reason why Tik was so cold. But it didn't feel right to let Ti be angry at Tik over something that wasn't true.

"It really isn't why he didn't warm up to you."

"The fact that the two of us had sex is at least part of the reason."

There was no way that Amr could convince him otherwise.

He gave the man a sad little smile. He had really wanted to make a good impression on Amr's brother.

"Well... Yeah that is true," Amr admitted.

The sad little smile didn't make his heart flutter. It broke it.

He pulled Ti into a hug. One hand resting on the back of Ti's head and the other resting in the centre of his back.

"Keep the tea for him. Maybe he'll want to try it, eventually."

He had that little flutter of hope that Tik would come around and want to get to know him in some capacity.

"He try it! He will take one look at me drinking at and will have to have some. Then realise how much he loves it."

Even with all his bitterness, he will know Tik will like it. Although he had a feeling it will be a lot harder to get him to try it then he described.

Ti just smiled and hoped that Amr was right.

"Well, could you introduce me to everyone else at least?" Just because things went bad with one person, didn't mean he didn't want to try getting to know everyone else.

He was interested in meeting all these warriors.