Title: Dog
Fandom: Robin Hood
Rating: PG
Warnings: I'm a little mean to Guy, and to a horse. Also spoilerish for "Childhood" (ep03s02) and makes no sense without having seen it.
Word Count: 550

It's been quiet for some time now. Vaisey is counting coins, and the rustling as they are poured into white sacks is the only sound. Guy stands by the window, arms crossed over his chest. He waits. Doesn't want to leave. Doesn't want to speak.

Vaisey decides for him. "Don't you have something to do, Gisborne?"

He almost leaves then. It's the same as when he faced the Sheriff for the first time after Marian left him at the altar, his chest filled to bursting with humiliation, so that he could hardly speak for fear that it would come up his throat and spill out of his open mouth like ribbons of silk. But he survived then, and he doesn't leave now. "You would have let me die." He expects an excuse. The usual round-talk. 'Don't be silly. I would have gotten you out of there. It's us against the world, remember?' Vaisey is good at that.

Instead: "Yes."

But the Sheriff is not the only one who is good at things. Guy is good at hiding his emotions. So he doesn't let the shock or the pain show. Doesn't reply. When nothing more happens, not even the return of the sound of coins, he turns from the window to look. Vaisey is not amused and not annoyed. He's serious. He's waiting for Guy to share some more. And at the cost of seeming as pathetic as he feels, he finally does. "I'm worth less to you than a box of rocks."

An exasperated sigh, more in the lieu with Vaisey's usual, theatric behavior. "Oh, come on, Gisborne. What did you expect? Devotion? Love?"

"Loyalty?" That's risky. He's speaking out of bounds, although just one word so far. But they've said so much about it! The value of loyalty! And Guy has been loyal, far more than he himself ever expected to be. Something just keeps him coming back…

Vaisey closes his eyes for a moment. Then he stands, comes around his desk and over to the window. He leans on the wall and looks for a moment down on the people of Nottingham. But he looks up when he speaks. "You're a dog, Gisborne. My dog. You come when I call, you bark, you wag your tail when I give you a treat. And…" he reaches out and almost but not quite touches the collar of Guy's long, leather jacket. Can he see Guy's chest rising and falling with fast, heavy breaths? "You live and die on my command."

Guy's voice is thick and he can feel the ribbons crowding in the back of his throat. "That doesn't answer my-"

"The loyalty you speak of is the loyalty of a dog to its master. It's unconditional, it's unjustifiable, and it keeps you coming back to me. You're a fool to expect any sort of return."

Guy searches Vaisey's eyes until he goes blind, but sees nothing that can redeem the moment. He crosses the room like a drunk man, fumbles for the handle of the door. But he knows, in the hallway, in the courtyard, and as he pushes his horse to the limit of its speed across the fields outside of Nottingham, that he'll be back soon. He can't explain it, he can't justify it, but he knows.