Chapter Text
The clicking of the train down the tracks almost seemed like the ticking of a clock, counting down the seconds till their destination sealed his fate. The scenery passed by him in a blur as he stared vacantly out the window, trying not to think about what awaited him at the end of the tracks.
“Sit up properly,” his uncle hissed in his ear. “You look like you’re on the way to a funeral, rather than your own wedding.”
He grit his teeth, but adjusted how he was sitting, not willing to irritate Miraz further.
The inside of the train carriage was hardly better, most of these people were rich snobs like his uncle, all eager to get back to the east coast now that their fortunes had been won.
Some fortune. Gold and money and no soul left to be found.
Back to packed city streets and temperate weather. High society and its treacherous ways. A wealth of traps and pitfalls waiting to snare him, damn him, and spit him out again.
Wheels squealed, and the carriage jolted forward, jostling the passengers in their seats as the entire train came to a halt.
What was going on?
He glanced around, but it didn’t seem anyone else had any idea either, several of them standing up and starting to make their way towards the front when the door behind them opened up, and four people with guns in hand and bandanas covering their faces boarded the train.
“Terribly sorry for the interruption, but if you’ll all remain in your seats this won’t take long,” one of them spoke, a man slightly shorter than Caspian, who seemed to be grinning under his bandana.
One of the other guests tried to pull a gun, but one of the others behind the one in charge stepped forward, pressing their own gun to the man’s neck, and shaking his head.
“Well thank you so much for offering your weapon,” the first man confiscated the gun, wrenching it out of the man’s hand, even as the last two made their way forward in the train, pulling bags off of shelves and sifting quickly through them for jewelry and gold, of which there was plenty on this train.
Miraz kept a firm grip on Caspian’s arm, keeping him in place, though what exactly he thought Caspian would do was beyond him.
“Filthy bandits,” one of the other passengers sneered, and the man that had been speaking tutted.
“Now now, we wash regularly. Maybe not in those golden tubs you lot use, but it’s enough for the horses to tolerate.”
One of the others in the back was up to something, Caspian could see a hand slipping down- another gun? But then someone might get hurt-
“Well hello there,” the man purred, and it took Caspian far too long to realize the man was talking to him.
He looked up, staring at piercing brown eyes even as his uncle scowled.
“We’re behaving ourselves,” Miraz insisted, even as he sneered at the man.
“Maybe you are, but is everyone else?” Oh no, had Caspian been staring at the man in the back too much?
Wait- if he had been, why was the bandit here-
The gun in the bandit’s hand clicked, aimed at Caspian. “Come on lad, stand up for me.”
Oh no.
He swallowed, slowly rising to his seat, keeping his hands in plain sight even as Miraz tried to hold onto his arm, and keep him down.
“Let go of the lad, or I’ll shoot you both,” the man growled.
“He has a fiancé waiting for him,” Miraz snarled, and the man tilted his head.
“Then it’s in everyone’s best interest that you do what I say, so he makes it back to her.” After a moment, Miraz reluctantly let him go.
As soon as he had, the man was grabbing Caspian by the arm, tugging him out of the seat and directing him up towards the rest of the train, the other bandits following behind. “All of you behave yourselves for Spring here,” the man spoke up, even as one of the others took a stand at the door, their gun in hand, but otherwise perfectly relaxed. “If I hear any gunfire from in here, the boy’s dead.”
Oh, he was a hostage. That was just perfect wasn’t it.
The man dragged him into the space between the carriages, where he pushed Caspian against the side of the carriage, but then leaned back, eyeing him.
“The fuck, Winter?” one of the other men asked, and the first man- Winter- shook his head.
“Call it a hunch. Go ahead with Fall and get what you need from the other carriages. I want to have a talk with our hostage here.”
The second man and the one that had to be ‘Fall’ both went ahead, and Winter eyed him up and down for a moment, his gun still in hand, but not pointed towards Caspian.
“…Why me?” he finally asked, once it was clear that the bandit wasn’t going to do anything but stare at him. “You know they don’t care if I live or die. There were women and children, why did you pick me?”
“Would you rather I’d have picked one of them?” the bandit asked, stepping forward into Caspian’s space. “I could do anything to you out here. None of them are going to stop me. Would you rather it was a woman? Rather it was a child?”
“No, I just- I don’t understand-“
The bandit pressed a hand against his shoulder, lightly pushing him against the wall of the carriage, but not hurting him, just holding him there-
The bandit’s thumb traced along Caspian’s neck, and Caspian jolted, hands clenching on nothing as he grit his teeth, trying to fight back tears as he understood exactly why he’d been chosen.
“Who left that mark on you?”
He looked away, heart pounding in his ears. “…My uncle,” he admitted. “He- I tried to leave. He grabbed me by the shoulder. I- hadn’t realized it had bruised.”
Winter let go of him and stepped back a bit, crossing his arms. “Your fiancé?”
“…She’s… we’ve never met,” he admitted, and Winter eyed him carefully.
“…Even if you had, you still wouldn’t want her, would you?” Winter asked, and Caspian could kick himself.
“That obvious?”
“To someone who knows how to look.”
Winter stepped forward again, crowding Caspian against the wall of the carriage, but this time the pounding of Caspian’s heart had nothing to do with the danger. “When did you first know? Was it your first kiss? Dreaming it was a man instead of a sweet little doll at the saloon?”
Caspian could feel his cheeks heating up, and he couldn’t look at the bandit.
It didn’t matter anyway.
“…You’ve never had a first kiss, have you? Oh, you sweet thing. What was it, fantasizing about boys in your schoolroom? Daydreaming about a cowboy?” The bandit tucked a finger under Caspian’s chin. “Come on pretty boy, I asked you a question.”
“M-my uncle used to tease me,” he admitted. “Used to call me Queer. Insult me by saying I was into men… one day I realized it was true. Not too long after that… he realized it too.”
“And that’s when you found yourself suddenly engaged to a woman on the other side of the country, eh?” Winter let go of his chin, but didn’t step back. “How old are you?”
“Turned eighteen a few weeks ago,” Caspian admitted.
“And now you’re being ripped away from your home by a man that doesn’t care enough not to bruise you, when you’ve never even been kissed.”
He swallowed. “What do you care?” he managed. “You’re a bandit. Don’t try to tell me you’ve suddenly got a conscience.”
“Do any of the adults in that carriage?” Winter asked. “No. When we’re gone, the only thing that’ll change for them is they’ll have a little less to brag about when they get back home. But you… things could change for you.”
Winter lifted a hand, tugging down his bandana, and Caspian realized two things at once.
This bandit was young, barely an adult, just like Caspian.
And he was gorgeous.
Freckles dotted his face, with a strong jaw and full lips-
Wait-
“Well? Are you really going to head into a miserable marriage with a woman, never having known what it is to kiss a man? Would that be easier for you, to reject that part of yourself entirely?”
“You… want me to kiss you? You’re holding me hostage!”
“A formality,” Winter shrugged, grinning- and fuck but his grin was just as smug as Caspian had thought it might be! “Hell- this gives you an out if everyone finds out. Even if someone knew, they’d blame me. The bandit on the train, that stole your kiss- you couldn’t possibly be held responsible.”
“You underestimate how far they’ll go to blame me for all of it,” he pointed out, more than a little breathless at the idea. “You- you don’t even know my name-“
“Caspian, right?” the bandit asked. “It was on your things.”
“…You’re still threatening to kill me.”
Winter shrugged. “Some people like the adventure of it all.” But he did step back, and Caspian wondered why he felt colder without him there. “…Best of luck to you,” Winter whispered, before tugging up his bandana again as Fall and the other man came back through the doors of the other carriage, carrying several full bags. “You don’t have to go back with him you know,” Winter insisted, even as the other men glanced at each other.
“Winter, what’re you doing?” the man that had spoken earlier asked.
“There’s a hell of a lot more life to be lived. It would be a shame to waste it pretending to be someone you’re not.”
Winter grabbed Caspian’s arm again, nodding to the others, and they all made their way back into the first carriage, where Miraz-
Miraz was glaring at him.
At that moment, he wasn’t sure if he was more scared of the gun, or his uncle.
…That wasn’t right.
It wasn’t.
Winter stopped at the bench, his gun still resting against Caspian’s side, but Caspian was certain now that Winter wouldn’t shoot him.
Winter pulled him close, till Caspian’s ear was against his.
“I genuinely wish you good luck, Caspian,” Winter whispered, and Caspian made his decision.
“Take me with you, please,” he whispered back, and Winter pulled back for a moment, staring at him, before the corners of his eyes crinkled in a grin.
“Grab the kid’s things,” he called to Spring, who nodded and stepped forward, even as the sentence caused uproar on the carriage, and Miraz looked like he wanted a gun of his own to start shooting at them.
“Hey, you can’t-“
“Give me back my nephew-“
“Leave the boy alone-“
“We need insurance, don’t we?” Winter called out, dragging Caspian with him, even as Caspian could feel nothing but relief. “Don’t worry, the lad’ll be free to leave once we’ve gotten far away from you all- but if we see anyone chasing us before then,” Winter tilted the gun in warning, even though Caspian was sure now that he wouldn’t use it.
Winter dragged him off the carriage, and a few moments later the train took off.
“Summer,” Spring asked, and-
That was a woman?
“Oh don’t look at me,” the man from before insisted, tugging down his bandana and glaring at Winter. “What the fuck Winter?”
Winter chuckled, finally putting away his gun and nodding off to some rocks to the side. “Hope you don’t mind riding with me, pretty boy,” he grinned, and Fall groaned- That was a woman too?
“Oh come on, you’re not seriously trying to flirt with the boy you just kidnapped, are you? I thought we agreed no hostages past the train!”
“He’s not a hostage,” Winter explained, picking up Caspian’s bag from Spring and tossing it to him. “Are you Caspian?”
Caspian swallowed, but shook his head. “I… ah… asked to come with,” he admitted, not really sure why he’d done it, and starting to get a bit nervous.
“Like I said. Hunch.” He turned around, crooking his finger for Caspian to follow. “Come on pretty boy, let’s see if we can’t find a place for you out here in the wild, shall we?”
He grasped his bag tighter, even as the others all walked on ahead of him.
He’d chosen this.
And he couldn’t really be mad at himself for doing so, either.