Merry Pranks

"Hey, Prince, we're best buds now, right? So, uh...can I borrow a grand?"

Minoth's question came accompanied by a furtive grin, teetering towards wolfish.

How many years ago would that be, now?

Addam could hardly fathom it. Neither could he fathom the concept of having a "grand" in his wallet at all times, for the practically sole purpose of lending ("lending") to Minoth, but that had been a fact of life for just about as much time.

First, Addam had insisted to pay for lunch. Minoth, being both much more and much less cagey at the time, made half of an aborted attempt to object, then fell silent, almost numb. He had tried so, so hard to simply go along with it, but, well, that kind of thing just didn't come naturally to him. It would be a true sight if it ever did.

Then, a couple meetings later, they had been walking in a market, and Minoth hadn't had enough gold to purchase a piece of stationery that caught his eye, so Addam covered the difference. What had it been, fifty G? Maybe a hundred?

And now they were slinging full thousands around at the slightest opportunity.

Eventually Addam had come to understand that if Minoth's hand was holding his, it was a fair bet that proximity to the wallet was a major enticing factor. This didn't bother Addam, considering that he had no great regard for the money himself and could plainly tell how seriously Minoth considered any and all considerations from anyone, especially his prince.

Such broad and audacious asks weren't even only about the money, anymore, though. Given that both Addam and Minoth liked to maintain some idea of dignity, they never exchanged the coins in plain view, but they talked about it where anyone could hear (by this point, anyway). That was the fun of it, really. They'd learned that Brighid had a downright exquisite side-eye, as she angled her invisible ears for gossip.

"Borrowing a grand" was slang for stealing about ten minutes worth of kisses, and "spot me for trail rations" meant that Minoth had something he felt like telling Addam - not incredibly grave, nor directly humorous, usually. "I can pay you back now" was reserved only for those rare occasions where Minoth felt the need to apologize for something, and Addam never ever stole this one for his own use.

The gold code was transitory, if not transactional. It was for things that would come and go, not for material that needed writing down. No huge watershed moments to be prefaced by the invocation of bread, bacon or cheddar.

And if Addam knew the balance of the complex ledger of guilt that charged it, he never said.