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Chapter Text

Five years. One thousand, eight hundred and twenty-five days. 

Lorenz can still close his eyes and see Claude standing before him, golden in the sunlight as he sails away. There is an unspoken promise stretching between them and Lorenz only turns away when the ship has disappeared over the horizon.

And then nothing. Not a word, not a whisper.

For five. Fucking. Years.

And oh, how much Lorenz hates the sheer vulgarity this man can bring out in him. How much he loves this man. The indignity of the contradiction burns within him. He has missed the warmth Claude brings with him.

He has no idea what Claude - King Kahlid? - has been talking about but that is what scribes are for. Lorenz has been enraptured by a small scar on the underside of Claude’s chin that he remembers putting there very well.

They used to have such spirited debates. 

Lorenz finds himself suddenly grateful that he is wearing rather a lot of layers. From the way Claude looks when Lorenz manages to catch his eye, he does not think he is the only one.

The meeting wraps up and Lorenz remains seated as the dignitaries trickle out. His long-suffering advisor, Trina, makes his excuses and settles a reassuring hand on his shoulder before she pinches his ear.

“You two need to talk. Staring at each other like lovesick fools will lead to rumors you should cut off at the head. Possibly along with the loose tongues that would think to spread them.” 

And that’s his Trina, practical to the point of ruthless and with all the tact of a charging boar. Lorenz has always needed someone to beat sense into him and Trina has a mean right hook.

She leaves them with a quiet and amused ‘my lords’ and the soft but firm closing of the heavy oaken doors. The silence spreads over the room, thick and cloying, and Lorenz fights to keep from breaking it.

He has not felt this alive in three years, he doesn’t want to end all the possibilities that lay before him now.

Claude makes a quiet noise and it startles Lorenz from his daze. He stands from his place at the head of the table and makes his way around to Claude.

“So. King, huh?”

Claude has the decency to look guilty as he shrugs his deliciously broad shoulders. 

“Yeah. King.” 

This close to him Lorenz can see the tiny stress lines around his gorgeous blue eyes. Gods he’s just gotten more lovely with time. 

“Is there a Queen I should know about before we talk ?”

And there it is, that wild darkness in his eyes Lorenz has spent five years dreaming of. Lorenz knows that Claude remembers how their talks inevitably ended and he’s eager to see if the other man’s mouth tastes as sweet as he remembers.

“I’ve actually come here to find one. I’m hoping that a marriage between our two countries would strengthen the treaty.”

Claude’s words are like ice down his spine and he jumps back like a wet cat. And what did he expect? That they would fall back together like teenagers again? That the man he had waited nearly half a decade for would wait for him?

He’s a Gods Damned fool.

Lorenz smooths his hands through his hair like he’s trying to soothe a startled horse and retreats back to his side of the table. He has had to make deals with worse devils than this for his country. 

Claude has the audacity to look confused at Lorenz’s reaction and the slighter man finds himself sneering. He will not be a secret hidden away and he will not be unfaithful to some poor woman. 

He will have all of Claude or none. 

Lorenz folds his hands on the table before him to hide their tremor and clears his throat roughly.

“There are several young ladies in good standing I could arrange a meeting for you with. I’m afraid this is the wrong season down here for weddings but I understand it’s lovely across the mountains.”

Or really anywhere away from me , Lorenz thinks balefully.

Claude’s face freezes over for a moment before he cracks out laughing and oh. 

Oh no. 

Lorenz is going to start a war. 

There’s just no avoiding it.

Lorenz pulls a small dagger from his boot - there, for aesthetics only, honestly - and stalks back towards Claude.

The beautiful fool is still laughing when Lorenz sinks his hand into all that luscious hair and pulls his head back. He should have done this five years ago. 

“Lorenz, Gods, put the dagger down. I came back for you, you dramatic thing.”

“I seem to be lacking several things that would keep me from being your queen and I do not share.” Lorenz whispers into the shell of Claude’s ear as he slides the flat side of the blade over his skin.

“We’ll adopt, Gods Lorenz, I gave you my word, do you think so little of me?”

Lorenz runs the lightest touch of the blade just above where Claude’s pulse beats the heaviest in his neck. Claude is almost suicidally emphatic about keeping his word. 

The blade nicks Claude just enough to draw a bead of blood and Lorenz follows it’s path with his tongue. Claude shudders and throws his head back, heedless of the knife still pressed to his skin.

This , his mind whispers to him, this is what we have needed.

Lorenz throws the knife away and hears it sink into the door behind him. The next thing he knows Claude has him spread out and half naked on the great marble table and is almost trying to consume him with his mouth.

When Claude pulls back to look at him there is a darkness in his soft blue eyes that calls to answering shadows within Lorenz. Suddenly the tidy meeting hall is replaced with cold ground and the smell of fire and sweat. 

Five years has done nothing to quench the desire Claude has always been able to light in him.  

Claude dives in and captures his mouth again before leading a trail of biting kisses down his sternum. He sinks his hands into Claude’s hair as he tears his leggings like paper. Lorenz has sorely missed those strong hands. 

Before he can gather any of his thoughts Claude pulls his aching length free and licks a broad, hot streak up the side of his cock before swirling his tongue around the swollen head. It takes every ounce of control Lorenz has not to scream and come.

He wants this to last but the way that Claude teases at his foreskin has always driven him crazy. He valiantly tries to warn Claude but gets as far as a strangled grunt before he’s coming all over that gorgeous tan skin. 

He comes down from the best orgasm in five years sitting in Claude’s lap with his head tucked under the taller man’s chin. The cut from earlier is still bleeding sluggishly and Lorenz reaches his tongue out and runs it over the wound.

Claude giggles like a child and, while it was not the reaction he wanted, it makes him smile. He doesn’t know about being Queen but he does know that he wants to keep this.

He gathers himself together and pulls back to look Claude in the face just as the large wooden doors open. He likes Trina a lot less now.

“I’m sorry my lords, but may I suggest this conversation be moved to a more private area?” Her amusement is clear in her voice but she’s opening one of the side doors that leads directly to his rooms so he thinks he can forgive her. 

Claude, the insufferable show off, doesn’t even strain to rise carrying Lorenz’s weight. He holds Lorenz close to him as he carries the older man through the hidden passage. 

Trina leaves them at his suite, probably to oversee the cleaning of the meeting room herself. He’s definitely taking Trina with him.

“I’m taking Trina with me.” He mumbles into Claude’s neck. 

“Are you saying yes then?”

Lorenz pulls back far enough to see into Claude’s bright, happy face and answers him with a kiss that becomes far more heated than he intended it to. He’s knocked back into his higher brain when his back makes contact with the wall.

“You know, you haven’t actually asked me anything.”

Claude groans into his neck before biting down sharply. Lorenz finds himself dropped to his feet as Claude searches through his clothing before exclaiming triumphantly and dropping to his knees. 

“Lorenz, I have loved you even when I hated you. Would you do me the honor of ruling by my side?”

His clothes are a mess and his hair is ruined. The man is still covered in his seed for the Gods Sake. There is nothing that is appropriate about this proposal.

Lorenz can’t breathe for the happiness he’s feeling. 

“Yes. Yes, you stupid beautiful asshole.”

Claude slides the ring onto his finger and catches his mouth in a bruising kiss. He wraps Lorenz’s long purple hair around his fist and pulls his neck back to trail a line of biting kisses down the pale skin.

Lorenz doesn’t try to keep his moans down. He pulls the younger man closer to him and falls into the stinging pleasure of his kisses.

Claude releases Lorenz’s hair to grab two handfuls of his bottom and carry him toward a settee on the wide sweeping balcony. The sun has started to set and the courtyard below them is empty. Lorenz doesn’t think he’d care if it wasn’t.

Lorenz decides Claude is wearing too much clothing and quickly fixes this egregious crime.  Claude is, if possible, even more magnificent than the last time they were in this position. 

Lorenz has had no one else’s touch in his long years of waiting and his body sings as Claude runs large, callused hands over him. He is embarrassingly close to coming again and he has to pull his focus away for a moment.

The sun has sunk behind the ocean and the twilight is bleeding into true night. Above him entire nebula’s swirl in the deep black sky and he feels as though he could lose himself in this moment forever.

He has to bite down on his fist when Claude’s mouth bypasses his aching cock to suck light kisses at his fluttering hole. His eyes actually roll back into his head when a strong warm tongue works its way inside, followed by two oiled fingers.

The smell of the plant oil, the same one Claude always used for his hair drags Lorenz’s mind down a corridor of memories. Stolen moments in the middle of war, hidden in hall closets and stables. Always secret, always quiet.

Not anymore.

Lorenz lets his cries fill the summer night’s air as he is stretched and filled for the first time in far too long. This is his and he will keep it with all the tenacity he has fought for Gloucester with.

Claude’s eyes are blown so wide only a small ring of blue remains and he chants Lorenz’s name like a prayer with every thrust. Lorenz digs his nails down Claude’s back and he growls and thrust harder into Lorenz’s hungry body. 

He comes so quickly again he should be embarrassed but he’s lost in the look on Claude’s face as Lorenz writhes under him. He can feel himself start to stir again with every punishing thrust and he pulls Claude down to kiss him.

He nips small kisses to Claude’s ear and whispers “Only you.” The younger man lets out a feral grunt and thrusts into him without any finesse as he comes. 

They lay together in the cooling air and Lorenz feels a sense of calm envelop him. There will be issues, going forward, and a thousand and one things to deal with. But that can wait til tomorrow, for now he’s right where he wants to be.

Chapter Text

Five years. One thousand, eight hundred and twenty-five days. 

Claude has spent every one of them longing for pale skin and purple hair, for a quick wit and an unparalleled grace in battle.  He has dreamed of this man every night and awoken every morning with his name on his lips.

And now everything he has worked for has come to fruition. He sits upon a stable throne and no one questions the crown’s place on his head. It is finally safe to return to Lorenz.

The voyage is smooth but long. He spends the trip drawing up plans to make a trade route between the mountains that separate the two countries with his advisors. They have been pushing for him to find a Queen and the trip south has given a lot of the old vultures palpitations.

When they land at the same port he left from five years ago he is overwhelmed with the memory of a younger Lorenz, standing stone still on this dock as he sailed away. The image brings a bitter pang to his heart and he focuses on helping with the landing.

It’s not his job, but the crew have given up on trying to stop him and many hands make light work. 

He disembarks with the crew and joins his ambassadors who stand gratefully on dry land. The booming port trade with the Gloucesters is relatively new and many of the elder members of his council are unused to open water.

He does not see Lorenz on the docks and he tries not to be disappointed.

A small, pale woman with a shock of bright blonde hair pops up in front of him and introduces herself as Trina. Her weathered and scared face is stern but warm and Claude immediately likes her.

She keeps up a steady stream of chatter as she leads them through the docks and into a series of waiting carriages. Claude ends up in a carriage with Trina and several of the deck hands, which Claude cannot help but be thankful for. 

He hasn’t been paying attention but she doesn’t seem to mind. He lets his thoughts wander to the last night he spent on these shores. His mind is so filled with muffled moans and the sweet scent of muscle liniment that he doesn’t notice the carriages pull up to House Gloucester.

Trina leads him to his rooms through a side entrance and leaves him to change before lunch and a meeting. At least there will be food, even if it is Gloucester food.

***

Claude is not surprised to find that the food still needs seasoning. Some things never change, after all. 

He puts away a fair bit though while he stares in rapt attention at Lorenz of House Gloucester. He has thought of this man every night as he closed his eyes and every day as the sun rose like a prayer.

That the first time he is to see him in five long years is across a banquet table is an almost exquisite torture. The conversation with the drunken lord and his simpering daughter, conversely, is surely karma for all the many wicked thoughts he’s having about that beautiful mouth and those enthralling eyes.

Lunch wraps up and Claude is bustled into a meeting with some of the other higher lords. He is amused to find that neither the drunkard nor his daughter rate high enough to attend. 

The meeting drags and Claude finds himself drawn into long debates while the sun makes its steady arch across the sky. Claude would have long ago zoned out if not for the electric shock that courses through his body every time he catches Lorenz’s eyes.

The meeting wraps up and Lorenz remains seated as the dignitaries trickle out. Claude keeps his seat as well, content to watch the late sun play across Lorenz’s beautiful face as he speaks quietly with the woman who first greeted him.

The woman shoots him a grin and leaves with them with a quiet and amused ‘my lords’ and the soft but firm closing of the heavy oaken doors. Claude takes the opportunity to finally stare openly at the beautiful face before him and he can’t help but let out a small sigh.

He loves this man.

Lorenz seems to awake from his daze as he stands from his place at the head of the table and makes his way around to Claude.

“So. King, huh?”

Claude can feel his ears turn red as he shrugs. 

“Yeah. King.” 

This close to him, Claude can’t focus on anything but the little freckle right next to Lorenz’s lower lip. Gods he’s as lovely as he was five years ago. 

“Is there a Queen I should know about before we talk ?”

Claude loses himself for a moment thinking about some of the various talks they’ve had before. He pulls himself from his memories with a slight shake of his head and grin.

“I’ve actually come here to find one. I’m hoping that a marriage between our two countries would strengthen the treaty.”

Claude says it as a joke, missing their special type of verbal foreplay from the war. He is not expecting Lorenz to hop away from him like a startled fox, teeth bared in a silent snarl. Lorenz smooths his hands through his hair like he’s trying to soothe a startled horse and retreats back to his side of the table.

To say that Claude is confused would be an understatement. Lorenz hasn’t looked at him with such contempt since they first met. He cocks his head to the side and gives Lorenz his best sheepish grin and puppy eyes.

No dice. Lorenz folds his hands on the table before him and clears his throat roughly.

“There are several young ladies in good standing I could arrange a meeting for you with. I’m afraid this is the wrong season down here for weddings but I understand it’s lovely across the mountains.”

Lorenz’s voice is as cold as the grave and he will not look anywhere near Claude and oh. OH. Lorenz thinks he’s come to replace him. Claude can’t help the loud burst of laughter and he throws his head back and lets it go. This is the dramatic little bitch he’s been missing all these years.

He’s still laughing when Lorenz tangles a hand into Claude’s short golden locks. Lorenz tugs his head backwards and Claude can feel the warm, smooth press of a body warmed dagger against his throat. Oh Gods how he has missed this.

“Lorenz, Gods, put the dagger down. I came back for you, you dramatic thing.”

“I seem to be lacking several things that would keep me from being your queen and I do not share.” Lorenz whispers into the shell of Claude’s ear as he slides the flat side of the blade over Claude’s throat. He has to fight down a shiver but he can’t remember the last time he’s been this hard.

“We’ll adopt, Gods Lorenz, I gave you my word, do you think so little of me?”

Lorenz runs the lightest touch of the blade just above where Claude’s pulse beats the heaviest in his neck. They stand on a wire’s edge - Lorenz will forgive him and they’ll fuck like rabbits or Claude will die. Either way he’ll probably bleed and for the first time in over five years he feels that rush of fear-tinged pleasure again.

Lorenz does not disappoint and the blade nicks Claude just enough to draw a bead of blood. Lorenz follows it’s path with his tongue and Claude feels his body shudder without his consent and he throws his head backwards, all thought of safety blown from his mind.

He hears the dull thud of a knife hitting wood and he’s out of his chair and spreading Lorenz out beneath him between one heart beat and the next. He unwraps Lorenz from his lovely clothing as he nips and kisses at every precious inch of pale skin exposed.

Lorenz still tastes of the goat's milk soap and lavender oil he prefered all of those years ago.

Claude pulls back to look at the beautiful man splayed out beneath him; there is a darkness and a heat in Lorenz’s eyes that calls to answering shadows within Claude. Suddenly the tidy meeting hall is replaced with cold ground and the smell of fire and sweat. Claude can hear horse snuffling and the sound of Lorenz quietly falling apart beneath him.

For five years he has dreamed of nothing but this man.

Claude dives in and captures his mouth again before leading a trail of biting kisses down Lorenz’s pale sternum. As Claude tears apart Lorenz’s leggings like paper he feels nimble hands sink into his hair. They stroke gently through his messy curls and pull just enough to send bright spikes of pleasure down his spine.

Claude pulls Lorenz’s beautiful length free and licks a broad, wet streak up the side of his cock before swirling his tongue around the swollen head. The taste that floods his senses is achingly familiar and Claude presses one hand against his own swollen cock.

He runs his tongue over Lorenz tight balls and plants wet, sucking kisses up the length to run his tongue under the sensitive foreskin. Lorenz tightens his hands in Claude’s hair and Claude knows he’s close. He pulls back enough to suck gently at the spongy head of Lorenz cock. He runs one finger lightly over Lorenz’s quivering hole and then the other man is coming, overflowing Claude’s mouth and dripping down his chin.

Claude pulls the cape from his shoulders and uses a corner of it to wipe his face before he pulls the slighter man into his arms. The sit there as the setting sunlight casts dancing beams through the stained glass ceiling.

Claude’s mind, for the first time in a long time, is empty. 

Lorenz runs his tongue over the sluggishly bleeding wound and it tickles. Claude giggles like a child and holds Lorenz tighter to himself. He will not let this go, not for anything. Lorenz pulls back to look Claude in the face just as the large wooden doors open. It’s the same woman as before and Claude is really going to have to learn her name. For now, he just gives her a sheepish smile and a small wave.

“I’m sorry my lords, but may I suggest this conversation be moved to a more private area?” Her amusement is clear in her voice as she opens one of the hidden side doors. Claude has to admit she has a point.

He shifts his hold on Lorenz and rises from the chair with a flex of his powerful thighs. The smaller man squeaks quietly in arms but Claude is smart enough not to mention it. He holds Lorenz close to him as he carries the older man through the hidden passage. 

The woman leaves them at an opulent suite with a quiet wave and a knowing smirk. Claude is starting to like her already.

“I’m taking Trina with me.” Lorenz mumbles into his neck. Claude breaks out into a wide grin and buries his face in Lorenz’s silky purple hair for a moment.

“Are you saying yes then?”

Lorenz pulls back far enough for Claude to see his face shining with joy before swooping in with a kiss that starts sweet and becomes far more heated. Claude lets out a desperate moan and pushes Lorenz against the nearest flat surface.

“You know, you haven’t actually asked me anything.” Lorenz’s  voice is breathy and shaky. Claude groans into his neck before biting down sharply. Claude drops Lorenz to his feet and digs through his pockets frantically. He lets out a triumphant yelp when he finds the ring he’s looking for and drops to his knees.

“Lorenz, I have loved you even when I hated you. Would you do me the honor of ruling by my side?”

Lorenz freezes like stone for a moment before breaking out into a wild grin.

“Yes. Yes, you stupid beautiful asshole.”

Claude slides the ring onto his finger and catches his mouth in a bruising kiss. He wraps Lorenz’s long purple hair around his fist and pulls his neck back to trail a line of biting kisses down the pale skin.

Claude releases Lorenz’s hair to grab two handfuls of his gorgeous bottom and carry him toward a settee on the wide sweeping balcony. He doesn’t care if anyone hears them; he will never again hide his love for this man.

Claude’s clothes are torn off in a flurry of grasping hands and heated kisses. When Lorenz lays back to look at him the look in his wild eyes nearly pushes Claude over the edge.

Claude dives down and lays a row of nipping kisses down Lorenz’s body. He stops to suck a bruise into the junction of his thigh before he bypasses Lorenz cock and sucks light kisses at his fluttering hole. The musky taste of him makes Claude’s cock throb and he adjusts himself as he sinks his tongue deeper into the soft heat before him.

The hand palming his cock moves to the small pouch on his hip and withdraws the vial of oil he uses to keep the sand from his hair. The heavy scent of the plant based oil fills the air as he stretches Lorenz’s tight body. He cannot help but watch as he sinks in and the lithe form before him writhes like a wild thing.

A litany of filth fills the twilight as Lorenz falls apart beneath him and Claude leans down to suck and bite at his slender neck. Claude chants Lorenz’s name like a prayer with every thrust and when Lorenz digs his nails down Claude’s back he growls and thrust harder into Lorenz’s hungry body. 

Lorenz pulls Claude down to kiss him thoroughly before trailing a line of nipping, small kisses to Claude’s ear and whispering “Only you.” Claude feels his brain disengage for a moment and he is consumed by the burning pleasure as he empties himself into Lorenz’s plaint body. 

When he comes back to reality he rolls them over and snuggles Lorenz to his chest before throwing a nearby blanket over them. Claude has no doubt that the traditionally conservative people of his homeland will fight this, hell, he knows when Lorenz wakes up he’ll have to talk the man down, but he’s faced worse odds for far less.

He squeezes Lorenz tight as the slighter man falls asleep in his arms and the stars rise above him. In all the vast expanse of life no one else is Lorenz. He’s the luckiest son-of-a-bitch in the world and he knows it. He’s not going to let this go for anything.