forum The Strangers in the Palace (Closed)(Fantasy)

Started October 31, 2021 by Deleted user

tune

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(is Ari going to kind of try and hide that it's a bad day from Honey at first? like maybe he doesn't want to bother Honey, even though Honey knows that something's wrong and just wants to help)

Arquis tried to do as Rin said, but sleep evaded him. That was one of the biggest problems with guilt. The nobleman struggled to rest when he felt guilty, and when he didn't sleep, he ended up feeling even worse for not performing at his best. It was a vicious cycle that only tended to end when he inevitably crashed. That, or when the source of the guilt was somehow taken care of. There was no way that would be possible at this point, however, so he just stayed where he was and waited.

Eventually, he did kind of drift off, but his sleep was restless and his dreams nonsensical. Shadows chased him. Hands grabbed at his ankles. Someone was singing, and a deeper voice was laughing. His tie was floating. His hands were deep in wet mud. He stumbled down a hall made of garnet and ruby. His leg caught on the edge of his harp. A lute fell into his arms. Nonsense, all of it, and yet it unnerved him deeply.

——

Once both men were inside and the hatch was closed, Honey hummed in affirmation of Ari's idea. The thought of spending time huddled together under a blanket and drinking hot cocoa was wholesome. He'd never really celebrated many holidays as a kid, but those two things felt like the kind of stuff that would be done at a winter festival. He wondered absently if he'd be invited to one later in the year, now that he knew Arquis. The de Vey family was known for their elaborate celebrations and elegant dances. The blond doubted he'd fit into that scene very well.

The kitchen wasn't too far from where he and Ari were. He took a shortcut and ended up at the dining room. Off to the side was a door that led straight to their destination. As he'd predicted, nobody was inside. The room was dark. He flicked on the light and winced at the sudden brightness. It took a moment for his eyes to recover. When they did, he began to gather the ingredients and materials he assumed they'd need for hot cocoa: a saucepan, a whisk, some milk, and several different kinds of chocolate. There were no whipped cream or marshmallows to be found, but he did stumble upon a small container of caramel sauce and a shaker containing cinnamon.

"Here we go. How do you like your cocoa, stranger? Super sweet?"

(probably. like, he gets up and uses the bathroom and looks at himself in the mirror and just kinda goes "oh" and realizes it's one of Those Days, y'know? like. where he's just struggling to feel masculine bc like he has this long hair and hips and female genitalia and a softer/daintier face shape and smaller hands and like. all he's able to see is all these little things that he thinks make him less of a man, but he doesn't wanna burden Honey with it bc he thinks Honey's been through enough recently y'know? 'n he's like "i'll be fine he doesn't need to know" but Honey can also tell that something is wrong, y'know? like. does that make sense?)

Rin's sleep was light, and he kept waking up, eyes flickering open to stare into the moody darkness of the room before drifting closed again to snatch another little bit of light sleep, haunted by twisting, ever changing dreams that he could never pin down once awake. All he knew was that the rest of the night seemed endless, in the strange, horrible way that only a night of bad sleep can seem. Waking and sleeping over and over again, but yet never resting, and the night seemed endless. Why this was happening, he had no idea. It was likely because of all the emotions he had gone through in the middle of the night. It had disturbed and awoken his brain and now he just couldn't get back to sleep again, could not deal with all of this again. It was too much, too difficult, and his mind just needed time to process it all, rather than anything else, at the expense of his sleep.

Ari blinked against the light, squinting for a moment as his eyes adjusted. "I usually do, yes." he replied. "I can't stand when it's bitter." he took the milk and the saucepan, taking them over to the stove and beginning to heat the milk, using the whisk to keep it from burning. While he was a nobleman, and didn't know much about cooking, he knew how to make hot chocolate, at the very least. Even if nothing else, hot chocolate was something he could do quite well. It had been a comfort drink for Rinlos for years. There had been a few nights, when they were teens, that Rinlos would come over in the middle of the night, fresh bruises on his skin and fear still lingering in their eyes, and all that the two had been able to do was make hot chocolate and sit together. Those had been hard years for the both of them. Rinlos because of the abuse and Ari because of dealing with his body and gender, along with watching, helpless, as his best friend was abused and neither of them could do anything about it.

(yeah it does!)

At some point, unbeknownst to himself, Arquis began to shift. He turned onto his side, straightened out, and then rolled over once. His face ended up pressed against Rin's chest. He made a soft, pleased sound in his sleep. Though his waking mind had a habit of overthinking, his subconscious knew what he really wanted. One of his arms wrapped around Rin's side, and he tugged him even closer.

His dreams still weren't pleasant, but his proximity to his partner didn't make them worse. They were still bursting with random objects and places. The lute he'd been holding turned to a sharp fang. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a large tree growing in his room. The tree burst through the ceiling, and when he looked at the sky, he realized he was suddenly standing outside. Snow was falling. There was a glass of wine on the ground that spilled, reversed and refilled itself, and spilled again. This happened several times, the drink staining the crisp white snow. He stumbled towards it, strangely desperate to stop the cycle, and found himself falling into the spill. His gloves came away stained.

——

Honey watched Ari curiously. There'd been a shift in his expression that the blond didn't quite understand. It didn't seem like anger or frustration. Contemplation, maybe? He couldn't tell, but he didn't want to interrupt, so he stayed silent. He decided to busy himself with looking over the selection of chocolate. That way, if Ari asked why he was being so quiet, he could say he'd gotten distracted with choosing which to use.

After a minute or so, his lie became the truth. He was plenty distracted. White chocolate wouldn't work for cocoa. There was a really bitter dark chocolate that was basically inedible, which he set aside. That left one sweeter dark chocolate and several kinds of milk chocolate. He squinted at one of the milk chocolate bars. It looked like it had fruit in it. He pushed it to the back of the counter with a grimace. Fruity cocoa sounded disgusting. He looked over the other bars to make sure the rest were fruitless, then paused.

"Hey. Never really noticed before, but look at this." He held up a bar wrapped in crinkly, fancy paper and pointed at the stamp on top. It had the de Vey family's last initials. "Arquis's family made this. That's one reason they're rich, I guess? Making expensive candy and stuff. It's weird. I know he's a noble and everything, but when I see him and Rin, y'know, it's like he's a normal person. Kinda. Wonder what his house looks like.”

(perfect!)

Rin, of course, ended up snuggled into Arquis as he drifted in and out of sleep, arms around his partner. He relaxed once Arquis was snuggled up with him, finally sleeping just a bit better, though not much. His dreams were still bothered and restless, his sleep intermittent at best, but it was very slightly better than it had been.

Ari blinked, shaking his thoguhts away, and looked up when Honey spoke. "Huh." he carefully reached out to take a closer look at the candy bar. "Interesting." he studied it for a long moment, then processed the rest of what Honey had said. "Do…do you not normally see nobles as people?" he asked, blinking at Honey. He didn't think the young man knew that he himself was nobility, and Honey's words were…slightly troubling. Would Ari's family ruin this budding romance before it could even happen, if Honey found out? And if Ari's own history came to light, would Honey or Arquis then figure out Rinlos's?

(pausing with Arquis's part for now cause he's just asleep until the next day haha)

"Huh? Oh, I mean, I don't know. Having that much money and power does something to a person." Honey reached over Ari's arm and took the whisk. He swirled it around the saucepan once, then peeled the wrapper off of the de Vey bar. The chocolate had a rich, sweet aroma. He broke it into squares, dropped them into the milk, and shuffled away again. The small of his back bumped into the counter.

"I've met a couple. Noblemen, I mean. Most weren't from Anvillea, but they crossed borders to come to here. This place has a reputation. It's where the wealthy come to hide their affairs from their spouses, or do that which would otherwise be, uh, unseemly." At that, Honey gestures towards himself, smiling ruefully. "When all you see is that side of a group, you tend to think worse of them, I guess. I don't know. Part of it's probably just jealousy. People like Arquis were born with so much. Food, shelter, education, entertainment. They have servants and butlers. All of their needs are taken care of. They just have to give an order, and it'll be done. For a little boy, with almost nothing at all, to look at that life and then at my own… I don't know. It always seemed unfair. But now I've seen what it's done to Arquis—how deeply it's messed him up—and I guess I feel differently."

(yeah makes sense lol)

Ari took over with the hot chocolate once Honey moved away, gently stirring it to help everything melt evenly. He frowned a little as he listened to Honey's words, considering for a long, careful moment what to do. He exhaled, looking down at the saucepan. Being nobility had fucked up all three of them, it seemed. Of all of them, Ari was the best off. Rinlos would deal with the effects of his abuse for the rest of his life. Whatever had happened to Arquis would effect him, too. Ari would be fighting for legitimacy for the rest of his life. "Yeah." he said softly. "I suppose no one really has it perfect." he shrugged his shoulders, carefully watching the milk to make sure he didn't scald or burn it.

Honey was admittedly a little confused. Ari seemed less talkative than normal, like he was holding something back. Maybe he disagreed with Honey's opinions on nobility. Either way, he figured he should probably change the subject. This topic of conversation didn't exactly seem to be going anywhere, at least not anywhere positive.

"Mmhm. Is that almost done?" He peered impatiently around Ari's shoulder. It looked pretty finished to him. Then again, he wasn't exactly a master chef. He'd burnt a lot of things in the brief time he'd tried to work in the kitchen. "Being here sucks. Anyone could walk in. I wanna go back to your room already."

Out of context, that sounded kinda suggestive. Honey smiled to himself. How funny it was that he'd gone from his previous career to stargazing and innocently drinking cocoa with Ari.

Ari gave Honey a soft smile. "Almost. Can you get some mugs out for us?" he asked, mixing it a little bit more, watching as the melted chocolate swirled with the milk. This would be nice and rich, he could tell by the way it was colored now, by the way the heat steamed up from it. He reached to turn off the heat, still slowly stirring the hot chocolate so that it wouldn't burn or scald, since the pot itself would still be hot for a good long time. He wasn't quite sure what to do with it afterwards, either. Where could he even put the pot, still hot from making the hot chocolate in it?

Honey let out a dramatic groan, but he did as Ari asked, pulling two mugs from a nearby cabinet. As he set them by the stove, he hesitated. Shyly, as if afraid he might get yelled at, he settled his chin on the other man's shoulder. His arms wrapped about his midsection. The embrace was loose—less of a snare, more of a hug—and he left some room between them. Pressing in too closely might seem like he had different intentions.

"Might fall asleep right here," he teased in a murmur, though there was a slight note of worry in his tone. He wasn't sure if this was too much. "Awfully warm in here, and all that roof climbing's worn me out."

Ari laughed softly, leaning his head back against Honey's shoulder, a quiet way to signal that this was alright. Honey didn't need to worry. "But Honey, what about your hot chocolate?" he replied, shifting to pour the hot chocolate into the mugs, careful not to spill. He didn't want to have to clean it up, after all, and if he spilled, he would have to clean it up. Once the pot was empty, he stepped out of Honey's embrace in order to take it over to the sink. He rinsed it out, but left it in the sink. It wasn't a large dish, and the kithcne staff could wash it relatively easily in the morning. A smile adorned his face as he turned back to the blond, grabbing a mug. "Now we're done."

Honey was blushing fiercely, which was, once again, interesting given his history. There was something about small, sweet gestures that just got to him. He much preferred the light cuddling they'd just done over the treatment he'd received in the past.

"Yeah, let's head out." He picked up the remaining mug and cradled it so that it wouldn't spill. Once they got through the kitchen exit, he navigated the halls until they were at Ari's room. He was sure that the Kevran had probably known the way, but it was hard to see in the dark. Plus, the blond had lived at The Cecilia Rouge for a rather long time. He knew a couple of shortcuts that got them there quickly.

"Here we are. Mm. Damn." His nose scrunched. "Just realized I didn't bring my skincare stuff. I'm gonna look like a mess in the morning."

Ari smiled, following Honey through the dark hallways. He stuck close to the other young man, not wanting to get separated and lost in the dark. It would not have been nearly as enjoyable as sitting together in the bed. At Honey's words about skincare, he hummed faintly. "There are some supplies in my room. Would those work, do you think?" he wasn't sure what they were. For himself, he usually just washed his face at night and in the morning again after he woke up. He didn't really bother with anything else, as his skin was usually pretty clear on its own.

Honey shrugged and stuck the hand not holding the mug into his pajama pocket. "Yeah, maybe. It's not that big of a deal. Sometimes my skin's just kinda dry." He took a long sip of his hot chocolate before shooting Ari a wink. "Takes a lot of prep work to get me looking this good."

He stepped aside so that Ari could unlock the door to his room. Technically, Honey had a master key and could've done so himself, but that would've felt creepy. He'd pledged long ago to only use that key in situations where it was absolutely necessary, like if someone was hurt or in danger. He also was careful not to let anyone else get their hands on it. If someone with bad intentions got a hold of it, they might make copies or use it to get into his room. Not that, as Myr had shown, his room was exactly an impenetrable fortress.

Air smiled softly in response to Honey's joke, opening the door to his room and pushing it open gently. "Alright. Let's get under the blankets, yeah? I'm cold." he headed over to the bed, lighting some candles and lamps for light, and then pulled back the covers so that he could get in. He kicked off his shoes and took off his coat, setting them to the side, and then sat down on the edge of the bed. "Come on." he said, smiling over at Honey and picking up his mug again.

Honey followed Ari's example, taking off his shoes and placing his mug on the bedside table. He proceeded to flop over onto the bed. One of the decorative pillows thumped to the floor, and he grinned. There was no way he was going to pick that up.

"Wonder if it'll get colder again tomorrow. Maybe we can go ice skating," he joked. The blankets rustled under him as he rolled onto his side and propped his head on his hand. In the candlelight, his brown eyes looked close to gold. "The people in town might start decorating for the holidays soon. Now that it's cooling down and everything, I mean."

Ari smiled softly, pulling the blankets over his legs and watching Honey quietly. "Ice skating might be nice." he replied ith a laugh. "Though I'm terribly bad at it and might end up spending most of my time falling." he took a sip of his hot chocolate, closing his eyes for a moment and then looking over at Honey again, a smile still pulling lightly at his mouth.

Honey reached over and patted Ari's hand in faux sympathy. "Aw, poor thing. Don't worry, I won't drag you along to go skating. Wouldn't want you to bruise that handsome face."

He rolled onto his other side, lifted his hot chocolate, and drank deeply. Once he was done, he let out a satisfied sigh. Cocoa ranked under ice cream on his list of favorite culinary creations, but he had to admit that Ari had made it well. The ratio of milk to chocolate was perfect, which made it silky smooth. He put the mug back in its place and shifted onto his back. His arms folded over his stomach. Drowsiness was beginning to settle in again.

"Mm, sorry," he said as he yawned. "Usually I’m more active in bed. It's just warm in here.”

He smiled a little, sipping at his hot chocolate. "It's alright." he replied to Honey's words, glancing over at the young man beside him. "We came here with the intention of going to sleep anyway." he hadn't been expecting Honey to be hyper and energetic. He hadn't really been hoping for it, either. Yawning softly, he set his hot chocolate aside, stretching and pulling the blankets up a little bit more, then picked the hot chocolate back up. "Thank you for taking me star gazing, even if we spent most of it talking."

Honey hummed in response to the thank-you and gave Ari a lazy smile. "You might've come here with the intention to sleep. I, on the other hand, came here to cuddle with a cute boy."

As he finished speaking, he inched across the bed and rested his head on the other man's stomach. He shot him a quick wink, then closed his eyes. The tension in his face, which he mostly held in his brow and mouth, began to fade. He was just a couple minutes away from dozing off completely. His breathing was already starting to slow into a steady rhythm, and he found that his thoughts were drifting.

"That's you, by the way," he murmured without meaning to, the words just spilling out. "The cute boy. In case you were wondering."

Ari hummed faintly, reaching to gently run his hand through Honey's golden hair. He smiled at Honey's words, bending to press a soft kiss to the top of Honey's head. "Mm. Well. Thank you, Honey." he responded softly. It only took him a little longer before he finished his hot chocolate, setting the empty mug down. He yawned, stretching a little. "May I turn off the lights?" he asked, hand already reaching for the lamp. All he was waiting on now was permission from Honey to turn it off.

Slowly, Honey opened his eyes. He squinted against the lamplight, even though it wasn't that bright, and raised his hands to a cup Ari's face. His thumbs brushed over his cheekbones. After a moment, he gave his left cheek a gentle, clumsy pat.

"You really are awful good looking, aren't you, stranger?" That wasn't really an answer to what he'd been asked, but then again, he couldn't remember the question. He stroked Ari's jaw and smiled. It was lopsided, only showing one of his dimples, but genuine. "Damn, you're lucky. Cute, smart, and nice. Guess that makes me lucky, too, 'cause I get to kiss you sometimes."

Air smiled a little, leaning into Honey's touch with a sleepy hum. "Thank you." he replied softly. "Now, may I turn out the light?" he repeated the question, not wanting to turn it off if Honey wasn't alright with it, but also wanting to turn it off so that he could go to sleep. He was tired, after all. He yanwed softly, turning to press a soft kiss to the center of Honey's palm.

"Not yet. Gotta do something real quick. Hold still." Honey teased his thumb along Ari's lower lip, then replaced it with his mouth. He kissed him for a good few seconds before slumping back against his chest. As he went, he gently caught and tugged one of Ari's curls. He didn't play with his hair nearly enough, but it was lovely.

"You taste good," he mumbled. "So, so good. What'd you ask? The lamp? Yeah, go ahead. You gonna get the candles, too?"

He really didn't care what happened to the candles, though he knew he had to ask in case Ari was going to get up. Snuffing them was the responsible thing to do, but honestly, the blond didn't want to move from his spot. He was just too cozy.

Ari returned the kiss softly, blinking sleepily at Honey. "Oh. I forgot about the candles." he said softly, shifting and gently tapping at Honey's shoulder. "You need to sit up so I can get out of the bed. We can't leave the candles burning." as nice as it might be to fall asleep to those flickering lights, it was irresponsible to leave them burning. They could burn the inn down if they did that. Once Honey moved, he got out of bed, shuffling over to the candles and blowing them out one by one, then coming back to the bed and snuggling back down into the bed.

(after your next message, should I do a skip to the next morning?)

As soon as Ari was back, Honey rolled over and cuddled up against him. He'd spent the night with men a couple of times, but most of his clients would just kick him out. Feeling the warmth of another person in bed with him, especially one that treated him with such gentleness, was an incredible sensation. He felt safer than he probably ever had before.

It was no wonder, then, that the blond fell asleep so quickly. Five minutes after Ari extinguished the candles, he was gone, dreaming about Sugar chasing a goose with a fancy hat. It was a nice, simple dream, the kind that filled him with pure joy. He didn't have many of those.

(sure!)

Ari snuggled up to Honey, and he too fell asleep rather quickly, happy to just be cuddled up with Honey in the bed. His dreams were garbled, and neither pleasant nor unpleasant, at least at the beginning. Eventually, though, they took a decidedly less pleasant turn, and he pressed closer to Honey in his sleep, unconsciously seeking the comfort of the other man's embrace.

[Day Fifteen]

Arquis woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the door. At first, he tried to ignore it and go back to sleep. One long minute later, it became pretty obvious that whoever it was didn't plan on going away. They kept knocking in short, polite bursts, just three quick raps in succession before a brief pause. A handful of seconds would pass, and then they'd begin again. Grumbling, the nobleman propped himself on his elbows and nudged Rin's shoulder. He blinked blearily as he waited for his partner to stir.

"Somebody is at the door," he groaned, voice deep and raspy from sleep. It was clear that he had no intention of standing. That meant either they would have to go check, or they'd have to yell at the whoever it was to leave. The second option seemed cruel, but then, maybe the stranger was really the mean one. After all, they'd woken Arquis up during what he assumed were the very early hours of the morning. Frustrated, he glanced at the window, then froze. It wasn't early at all. By the way the light was falling, it seemed like it was closer to afternoon. Ten o'clock felt like a safe bet.

——

At some point during the night, Honey had stolen most of the covers. He was still laying on top of Ari, though, which meant he'd effectively bundled the two of them in a cocoon. It was very toasty inside of the blanket bundle. Perhaps a little too warm. The blond's cheeks were flushed when he finally rose. He stretched, then shed his many layers and tapped Ari on the nose.

"Morning, stranger. Sleep well?" he asked. The words were a low rumble paired with an easy, charming smile.

Rin grumbled faintly as Arquis nudged them, his eyes slowly cracking open. "Mmph, what?" he mumbled, then heard the knocking. "Ugh." he gently nudged Arquis, sitting up and sliding from the bed, rubbing his eyes and trying to think who would be at the door. Ari or Honey would have just come in…the specialist! He blinked sleep from their eyes and quickly got dressed, then opened the door. He was still very clearly fresh out of bed, with his hair sticking up in a rather deliciously wild bedhead, their eyes still bleary and their voice low and slightly raspy. "Sorry for th' wait, we, ah, slept in." he explained. "You are the specialist, yes?"

Ari hummed faintly at the question, barely awake. His dreams had not been too pleasant, though they vanished as soon as his eyes flickered open, the light of the morning chasing them away. "I…slept alright." he replied softly, stretching and yawning softly. "What about you?" he asked as his yawn ended, sitting up just a little bit, but not moving enough to disturb Honey. "Did you sleep alright?" he knew that Honey had been concerned about behaving in an inapropriate way, but as far as Ari knew, nothing of the sort had happened. He hoped Honey had not been laying awake for half the night.

The woman at the door was about five feet tall, meaning she was quite a bit shorter than Rin. She had hazel eyes, stylish glasses, an aquiline nose, and a beauty mark. Her dark, wavy hair framed her heart-shaped face well. It cascaded onto her shoulders, which were clothed in a fancy suit jacket. The pencil skirt and flats she wore with the jacket seemed rather professional. To top the whole look off, she appeared to have on an elegant yet subtle perfume.

She gave Rin a once over, clearly noting his bed head and clothes that were slightly rumpled from rushing to get dressed. The corner of her mouth quirked in a smile that she quickly buried. She gave them a nod and gestured at the briefcase by her feet.

"Yes. Good morning. My name is Doctor Elsie Silas, but you can call me Elsie. I suppose you must be Sir de Vey? I must admit, I thought you'd look differently. Black hair, blue eyes? That was what my colleague said, at least."

——

Honey was surprised to find that the answer to Ari's question was a resounding yes. It wasn't that he'd never had a good night. He'd had plenty of great dreams throughout his life, some of which he still remembered. After the events of the past few days, however, he'd been expecting to have nightmares for a while.

"Yeah, I actually slept well. Very well. Maybe you're my lucky charm," he teased, leaning in to give him a quick peck. Once he pulled away, he said in a conspiratorial murmur, "Y'know, I'm not in a rush. We could stay here for a while. Lazy mornings are the best."

Rinlos blinked quickly at her words, letting out a soft laugh and shaking his head. "No. I…" he trailed off as he realized she had used Arquis's last name, brows furrowing as he tried to decide whether that meant anything dangerous. "I am his partner. Rinlos Tamare. I'm a bard. Arquis is still in bed." they turned to look back at Arquis, giving the nobleman a quick smile before he turned back to Elsie, taking a step backwards so she could come in.

Ari hummed, smiling and returning the soft kiss. "A lazy morning with a handsome man sounds like a wonderful plan." he responded, shifting a little bit. He sort of needed to use the bathroom, but that could wait a bit longer. He didn't want to get up just yet. Didn't want to leave the warmth of the bed quite yet, nor the embrace of Honey's arms, solid and warm around him. His hair was slightly messy from being slept on, dark curls sticking up just a little bit.