Title: The Evolution Of Devotion

Rating: T

Genre: Romance/Hurt/Comfort

Summary: A collection of vignettes giving brief glimpses into the relationship between Twig and Cowlquape. Slash.

Author's Note: This was originally going to be a huge long one-shot with all the different scenes linked together more solidly, but in the end I decided to split all the ideas up into vignettes. I think it will work better this way, and it will be easier for me to convey a certain feeling in each one. Not all of them will be as short at this first one, but unless I get carried away (and I'll try not to), none of them should exceed about 3,000 words. I want to challenge myself and my tendency to write more than necessary.

I: Curiosity

It began with curiosity.

In those first days, holed up in Twig's study, Cowlquape had been sure he could feel the young professor's eyes on him almost constantly. It took him a while to become aware of it; absorbed as he was by his barkscrolls, he was all but oblivious to the world beyond the words of Kobold the Wise. Eventually, though, even his state of near-constant disconnection to the world around him was broken by the young professor's unyielding stare.

Yet when he looked up, Twig was always – without fail – looking somewhere else. Cowlquape would shrug to himself, decide that he had imagined it, and return to his barkscrolls.

Only to feel Twig's eyes on him again.

As much as Cowlquape knew, deep down, that he really could feel Twig's gaze on him almost all the time, he told himself he was imagining it. After all, the young sub-professor had made him his apprentice spontaneously; surely Cowlquape couldn't truly interest him. They were completely different; whereas the young apprentice would be content to remain in the cosy little study with his barkscrolls indefinitely, it was obvious that Twig longed for a different path to follow.

No, he was sure that the young professor's curiosity could not be aroused by him, though Cowlquape found himself endlessly curious about Twig.