Though it might not have been entirely accurate to say that Warsman had quite been pinned to Robin's side since his arrival, it was fair to suggest that he certainly seemed a lot happier trailing after his old teacher than he ever did wandering by himself. True, he was a far cry from the man he met all those years ago, the Barracuda who made his life hell for the short time they were together, and it was truer still that he'd been pale and melancholy like a man possessed for the whole time he'd been here- but he was softer, too. Calmer. More reasonable.
More awkward, too. There was no mistaking the fact that now they shared a different sort of intimacy to the master-student hierarchy they'd constructed in St. Petersburg; he'd been humbled beyond frosty authority. Though Warsman had been reluctant to press for the details of his resignation it wasn't long before he realised that, somewhere past his to-the-point explanations and light conversation, something had broken his spirit. And nothing troubled him more than the thought that he might have preferred him this way.
The moment Robin rose from his pew, so too did he hurry towards him with a light, quick urgency, as though escaping from a shower of rain in the man's shadow. "Sir." He'd been trying to train himself out of it, but old habits died hard. Anyway, it wasn't as though Robin was undeserving of his respect. "Will you be busy today?"
'Will you be busy' was, of course, a coded question- the question his hesitance refused to let him ask was if his company was welcome- but he knew he'd be understood.
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More awkward, too. There was no mistaking the fact that now they shared a different sort of intimacy to the master-student hierarchy they'd constructed in St. Petersburg; he'd been humbled beyond frosty authority. Though Warsman had been reluctant to press for the details of his resignation it wasn't long before he realised that, somewhere past his to-the-point explanations and light conversation, something had broken his spirit. And nothing troubled him more than the thought that he might have preferred him this way.
The moment Robin rose from his pew, so too did he hurry towards him with a light, quick urgency, as though escaping from a shower of rain in the man's shadow. "Sir." He'd been trying to train himself out of it, but old habits died hard. Anyway, it wasn't as though Robin was undeserving of his respect. "Will you be busy today?"
'Will you be busy' was, of course, a coded question- the question his hesitance refused to let him ask was if his company was welcome- but he knew he'd be understood.