forum Fantasy poly couple anyone?

Started May 16, 2021 by @Elder-God-Jacks347

tune

Archer counted under his breath, ticking each one off on his fingers before answering. "Seven? I think seven. Maybe eight. I'm a bard, instruments are kind of my thing."

"Mm, so talented." He leaned over to peck Archer on the cheek. "I can't believe both my boyfriends are so smart, I really lucked out."

"Oh shush, you're smart too. You're very strategic and know how to make and stick to a plan. You could've been a great war leader yet you chose to be a simple adventurer with the two of us. I think we're the ones who lucked out."

"I haven't got the resources to be a great leader and you know it, and anyways it's all instinct. It's not like I ever learned how to do that stuff, I just… you know. I just kinda picked it up."

"Instinct is the first step in being a prodigy. I would know, that's how I picked up music. I never intended to do it full time but once I started, I just kept going."

Ori rolled his eyes. "Yeah but you learned that stuff. Properly, with teachers and schooling and all of that. I just… I just do it because I've been doing it all my life. There's a difference."

"Ha! School? You're funny. I learned though trial and error! Well, and through some passing bards that got sick of me butchering their instruments. You don't need school to be good at what you do."

Ori gave him a long look before his gaze eventually drifted to the ground in front of them. "Still. You got taught it somehow, by people who knew what they were doing. It's a world of difference."

"And? You're never too old to learn." Archer took Ori's hand gently. "You don't have to be young to have a teacher. You can still be something much greater than this."

Ori flushed slightly, tugging his hands away. "That's silly though. I'm a grown man, y'know? I can do things by myself, and anyways, I'm no good at being taught."

"And yet we've taught you to accept yourself and that loving two people at once isn't something to be ashamed of. I say that's a pretty good start."

"Yeah but that's… that's different." He frowned. "That's just helping me figure out a part of myself, y'know? It's not learning, it's just… accepting."

"Accepting is its own form of learning. Not all learning comes from a classroom. So long as it's you discovering something you didn't know before, its learning. So I say it counts."

"But it's not like I picked up anything new, Archer. That stuff was always there, and anyways it's not like liking yourself is a skill. If I've done anything, I've finally caught up to everyone else."

"Catching up is the first step in surpassing. You've fallen in line, great. Now how do you step it up and pass them? I think only you really know that answer."

Ori huffed quietly, bumping his shoulder against Archer's. "That's just stilly, babe. You can't be better than other people at liking yourself, you either do or you don't."

"No I- you know what I mean! Why do you insist on putting limits on yourself? The only one stopping you from doing anything to improve is you."

Ori frowned at that, a little hurt. "I don't like that that's the way it is Archer, but that doesn't mean I can change it. It's just the way things are, all arguing is gonna do is make it hurt worse when things inevitably go the way they were always going to."

"And here I was thinking that you were actually optimistic like me." Archer cast Ori a sidelong glance, almost disappointed. He shook it off quickly and focused back on the path ahead of them quietly.

Ori wilted a little beneath the glance, giving Archer's hand a squeeze. "I'm not not an optimist, I just… I don't like thinking about myself that way. It's disappointing."

"What, that you're not good enough to become better? That you're too dumb to learn? Ori, I don't get it." Archer frowned, genuinely confused by his thinking.

"What's not to get, you just explained it perfectly well." He glanced off to the side, more than a little embarrassed. "I'm stupid, Archer, and I'm not gonna stop being that way just because you feel like pretending I'm not."

That ticked Archer off. "You're not stupid Ori! You're here and you're alive and you've been keeping us alive since you got here! If you were truly stupid, you wouldn't be here right now!" He took a shaking breath, trying to calm his temper.

"I've been called a lot of things but I will not be called a liar or a fake." Archer spat the words like they tasted foul.

Ori dropped Archer's hand like he'd been burned. He didn't like that he was dumb, but he'd learned time and time against that he was. Every school teacher and disappointed family member had burned that into him from a very young age.

"Well you seem to think I'm the dumbest piece of shit on earth, since you know everything so much better than I do! Who am I to judge my own experiences, huh? I'm just some slow fucking idiot who needs his whole life explained to him."

"No that's not what I-! You know what? Forget it. I'm done, I'm out of here. I knew I'd be better off on my own in the long run." Archer growled with a dark expression before turning on his heel and storming off which caught Fen's attention. "Wait, Archer-!"

"Shut up! I'm so sick of this! Leave me out of your damn quest for redemption you freak!"

Fen recoiled back like he'd been physically hit, his face going a sickly shade of green as Archer stormed off fuming.

(Hehehe, surprise! Archer's been on the edge of breaking for a while! Ori just gave him the push he needed over it!)