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Hamid was walking down the hall, making his way to the kitchen. He had only eaten a couple hours ago, but they had been doing quite a bit of work on the submersible, and they were all taking a break. And for Hamid, a break with a decent supply of food nearby meant, at the very least, snack time. Maybe some bread with honey, and he could see if they got any fruit in again, and maybe some cheese too, the one he had the other day was quite lovely.
Hamid’s musing about food was interrupted at the sound of voices in one of the rooms up ahead. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, it was too soft. He hadn’t realized there was anyone staying over at this part of the inn, so he figured he would do a quick investigation, just in case there was something untoward happening.
He sidled up to the door, careful of his shadow against the paper wall, and peeked into the room with the hushed voices. Hamid was confronted with a view he had absolutely never expected to see.
Oscar and Zolf were facing each other, parallel with the door, so neither were directly facing him. Oscar was sitting on a chair, with Zolf tucked between his longer legs, their foreheads pressed together as they talked quietly. Oscar brought his hand up to Zolf’s cheek, who leaned into the touch, closing his eyes briefly, before turning slightly and leaving a kiss on Oscar’s palm. Hamid had seen Oscar smile on many different occasions - usually more of a flirtatious or smug smirk - but he had never witnessed the type of smile he gave Zolf now. It was soft, and fond, and open; the scar that pulled at his lips didn’t mar the obvious affection he felt for Zolf.
Hamid backed away quickly, with a strange feeling in his stomach. He figured it must have been the guilt at the invasion of their privacy, albeit an accidental one. It absolutely wasn’t the feelings Hamid had developed for Zolf when they were traveling together, and only vaguely alluded to in the letters he sent after Zolf left. Definitely not that.
Hamid still continued on his way to the kitchen to eat, but his heart wasn’t in it anymore.
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Hamid had been acting cagey all afternoon and it was driving Zolf up the wall. He kept looking over at Zolf, with a poorly hidden sad expression, until Zolf looked back at him; he would guiltily jump and turn away quickly, avoiding all eye contact.
Zolf has specifically started talking about his feelings to avoid this kind of ridiculousness, and where he understood Hamid was a year and a half behind, he couldn’t keep working like this. He finally managed to corner Hamid alone, and where he didn’t literally physically block him from leaving, Zolf was determined to get this straightened out.
“What’s going on with you, Hamid?”
Hamid startled, facing Zolf, eyes flicking around him for a means of escape, but realized quickly that there wasn’t really a way out of this, whether he confronted it now or later, Zolf wouldn’t let this continue on. They needed to trust each other, and this behavior was not conducive to that.
“N-nothing! It’s nothing, really. I just - uh - I’m, it’s… “ Hamid paused as he actually made eye contact, and then blurted out really fast, “I saw you and Oscar together! I didn’t mean to, but I was walking by and I heard voices and you both looked so happy , and I didn’t know you were together and I’m sorry I invaded your privacy, but it just seemed so weird? I thought you hated each other? But your business is your own and I’m sorry.” All the tension bled out of Hamid as he finished, and he added, so softly Zolf almost missed it, “I thought we’d have more time.”
Well, things were starting to make a whole lot more sense.
“You… bloody idiot.” Hamid looked up with a confused expression, “Hamid, Oscar was there when I found out that you, and the others, had… gone. He had been there for me for the aftermath of that, helped me grieve for you, and Sasha. We.. we, got very close during that time. Not only due to that, but it helped us get past the animosity we used to have for each other. I was… devastated when I thought you were dead, and Oscar wasn’t in much better shape at that point. We’ve only gotten closer since then; for the longest time, we could only truly trust each other. We were all that we had.”
Zolf took a deep breath, “But what you saw earlier, was us talking about you. I know I left before we could talk about anything between us, and I always regretted never answering your letters. But… I care about you… a lot. Oscar and I were discussing… that we would like to… ah… bring you in… with us. If that was something you'd be interested in.”
There was a glimmer of something in Hamid’s eyes, a happiness Zolf hadn’t seen since they were reunited, since he had come back from Rome, “Really?”
“Well, you’d have to have a conversation with Oscar about your relationship, because if we are going to do this, we are going to do it right, but… yes, really.” Zolf held out his hand to Hamid. Hamid looked at it briefly before ducking under it so he could hug him tightly. Zolf chuckled softly, as he wrapped his arms around Hamid, he didn’t know why he would have expected anything else from the halfling.
The world may be falling down around their ears, but Zolf would be damned if he wouldn’t carve out a bit of happiness for him and those he cared about, if he could.