forum "I would burn the world for you" (OxO Closed)

Started December 01, 2022 by @ElderGod-yellowqueen

tune

Nico shifted his arms so he was supporting his weight on his forearms. He hovered Bel, knocking his nose against his. "I do say so. And I'm always right so you should listen to me." He dipped his head to capture Bel's lips.

"We do have a couple of hours before need to be up. I can think of a couple of ways to spend our time until then." He could think of a few different places to do such thing. Call him a man and pig, but he was attracted to Bel and they wouldn't go through a village again for another few days. They wouldn't get to be like this until then, content and happy. They wouldn't be able to roll around in bed and cuddle in every night. It would have to wait until they passed through a village. And then after that, it wasn't until they reached his home.

Nico's charming arrogance casues Bel to laugh, but it's quickly swallowed with a kiss. With every touch and kiss, Bel's growing further and further out of his sleepy state. The more he awakens, the more he feels the ramifications of the night prior. He aches, just slightly, but it's not one he hates. If anything, it's a very pleasant reminder of whats happened and what's to come.

With a hum and particularly long and passionate kiss, Bel decides that Nico is absolutely right. They'll spend a few hours in privacy and rejoin the others for breakfast and the road ahead. "Mm, lead the way," he says, voice low with morning and anticipation.

Nico grinned as he got his way. He loved it when that happened. He wrapped his arms around Bel, happy they didn't have clothes to wrestle off this morning. Nico worshipped Bel in bed before carrying it to the bath. He cleaned Bel with a rag, carrying for him, before taking him again in the water until it ran cool.

It was only when they were out and wrapped in towels, lying on the bed, that he felt sated. His chest was heaving and his eyes were shut. There was a stupid smile on his face and if his men saw it, they would judge the shit out of him right now. He had one arm wrapped around Bel and the other one resting on his chest. "If you hadn't said anything, I'd have never known I was your first. You're a natural." Nico murmured. "But I'm happy I'm your first."

The morning is adventurous and eye opening and the best Bel has ever felt, and they still hadn't ever left the bedroom. He's overheated from the experience yet he doesn't even care. His voice is hoarse and his abdomen aches and he wouldn't trade this for the world. After the bath, everything about Bel had been jelly. Per usual, he was more than happy to let Nico take control. He trusts Nico to never hurt him.

Bel's on his side, twitching every few minutes, with a towel loosely wrapped around his lower torso. He's still slick with bathwater, sweat and other things. "Mm," Bel hums. "Thank you?" His word turns up into a question as he laughs. "Yes. You've been my first for… plenty of things." Bel wants nothing more to lay here forever and only moment to get impossibly closer to Nico, but he knows he cant have all his prayers answered. "We need to get going, don't we? Aren't your men waiting?" Bel notes with a small grimace how uncomfortable riding a horse will be.

Nico turned his head to look at him. He was happy. So happy. He didn't want to ruin this moment. But now was the time. He should tell him. Just tell Bel. Tell him who you are. Explain things to him. It will all be alright. it will work out. But the words died on his tongue before he could speak them. He couldn't. There was that sinking fear of the las time this had happened, the last time he had let someone in. They had betrayed him. His scars on his back were burning at the memory. So he swallowed those words.

"I'm happy then, about that." Nico was happy he didn't have a bad experience. He wasn't sure how he would handle it if Bel's first had been with someone that was less caring. He would likely murder him. He nosed Bel's hair, humming softly. "We do need to get going." He made no move to get up. They could spare a little bit longer. "Not likely. They're probably downstairs nursing a hangover over porridge. They're probably happy you're keeping me up here." Speaking of leaving, Nico had one more surprise but that could wait until they were about to leave.

At that, Bel smiles, overjoyed to be spending every last minute at Nico's side. He turns, curling up right inside the natural curve of Nico's body. He feels safe and fuzzy and completely boneless. The last thing he wants to do is spend the day before the group. Bel knows it's going to be difficult for the both of them to lessen on the affection with Nico's friends as an audience. Part of Bel wonders if Nico will even have the self control to lessen the public displays of affection.

"Sounds dreadful," Bel notes. "Hangovers are one of the reasons I don't drink." None of his siblings drink. When stressed they find their own coping mechanisms outside of substances. Best to always have a clear mind and clear judgement. It also doesn't help that the smell of alcohol–especially cloaked by night–nauseates him. Humming, Bel looks up to Nico, his eyes semi-lidded and soft.

Nico looked down at his prince turned into his body. He gave him an utterly satisfied smile. Truth be told, Nico longed for a quick nap. Bel had tired him out. He felt tlike he needed an hour or so to regain his strength. But it was time they didn't have. Still, he made no move to get up from his spot on the bed.

"That's one reason you're better than us," he murmured, "We don't over indulge too often. Some other bar patrons challenged them to a drinking game and they were too stupid to say no. They won, but at what cost." He shook his head, feigning disappointment. Other than he, Kaillas had remained sober. He felt safe in knowing that at least one man was in his right mind, especially him. Kaillas was a trained assassin after all. "Ugh, we really need to get up."

It's too comfortable. It's too perfect. Bel doest want to leave the bed, even if his life depended on it. One arm he snakes around Nico's torso as he kisses the man's collarbone. "Mm. I don't want to get up," He says, pressing his forehead into Nico's shoulder. But Bel can't have his way all the time. "I suppose your men will have questions if we hide too long."

Slowly, Bel begins to unstick himself from Nico's side. He takes the towel from his waist and fully dries himself off before dropping in on the ground. When he stands, he has to use his bedframe to stable himself. His knees arent quite up to strength yet. His clothes are mixed in a heap with Nico's on the floor. Bel sorts out the garmets and tosses Nico's his. Within a few moments he's dressed and checking his reflection in the mirror.

Nico gave Bel one last squeeze before letting him go. He watched the other man drop the towel and hobble around to find his clothes. He might have laughed if he wasn't concerned. He sat up, his blind hair falling over his shoulders. "Are you alright? Was I too rough?"

The last thing he wanted was to hurt Bel. He walked up to him, his own towel falling on to the floor. He grabbed his hips, massaging them softly. Despite their nudity, he wasn't doing it sensually. He just wanted to help ease the pain. He dropped a kiss to his shoulder but Nico pulled on his trousers.

"I'm fine," he reassures, smiling as Nico comes up behind him. "I'm fine, don't worry. It's just been a while since I've walked." Bel turns to give Nico a proper kiss. "You weren't too rough, I promise." And that's the truth, despite the ache in his legs and abdomen, Bel couldn't be better.

"Get ready, the others are probably waiting on us downstairs." Bel fixes his hair in the mirror and double checks to ensure that everything is in a bag and ready to go. He looks to the bed and immediately feels sorry for the poor maid who will have to clean it. If Bel had his money, he would tip greatly.

Nico smiled at the kiss. He squeezed his behind softly before electing him go and stepping away. He finished dressing and sat on the bed to lace up his shoes. He ran a hand through his hair, working out the tangles and tying it back into a low ponytail.

Nico noticed the way Bel was looking at the bed and chuckled. He placed a couple coins on the nightstand before moving to his side. "Come on, time to go. Let's get some breakfast oin you then we're out in the road." Almost on que, his stomach rumbled at the mention of food. He was starving. He had worked up quite an appetite from last night and this morning.

Bel watches Nico tie his hair back. One of these days, Bel is going to make Nico sit still as he braids his hair. It looks soft enough. Rolling his eyes affectionately, Bel let's Nico grab his arm and lead him out of the room. He has a bag full of the items he obtained over their short stay in a bag at his side. The sapphire bracelet is still tied tightly around his wrist.

They close the door behind them and make their way downstairs. Bel finds his bearings eventually, all those posture and etiquette classes finally paying off as he masks any sort of hobble or limp he might have. The other men are half asleep in front of their bowls of porridge and oatmeal.

Nico grabbed Bel and gave him one last kiss before the door was opened. It was hard and passionate and over just as quickly as it had started. He held the door open for the prince, taking some of the things out of his hand. He followed behind Bel, placing his free hand on his back to guide and support him.

As they stepped into the heart of the tavern, it was easy to find his men. Three of them looked miserable as they hunched over their breakfast. Kaillas was smirking as he watched them silently. He found their pain amusing. He had warned them not to drink as much but they never listened to words of reason. And now they were dealing with the consequences.

"You two love birds certainly took you time," Cassian said, raising his head from his porridge. Nico gave him a stiff look that said I will make your hangover worse if you say another word. Cass only grunted in acknowledgement before returning to his meal.

"What do you want to eat?" Nico murmured in Bel's ear after the prince had sat. He would go and place their food order at the bar and hopefully get it quickly. They needed to get on the road soon.

Bel smiles shyly and shakes his head as he takes a seat across from them at the table, ensuring to leave a space open for Nico next to him. The smell of alcohol still lingers through the tavern. It slightly unnerves him, the smell, but Bel knows he'll be fine. It'll be an issue when it's night and the aroma sits like a thick blanket around Bel. It reminds him too much of when his father got angry and he'd spend the night in a dark room.

"I'll just have whatever you are," Bel says in return, knocking his head barely against Nico's. "Just nothing with pine nuts. I'm allergic." When Nico stands to leave, Bel's left alone in the company of the other four. Itching for a conversation, Bel looks to them. "How are your hangovers?"

Nico nodded his head and squeezed Bel's shoulders. He gave the other a final look, their only warning, before walking up to the counter. He ordered two bowls of porridge, making sure there were no pine nuts in it. He also ordered a couple of glasses of orange juice for the both of them.

Braxton just grunted, flipping the prince off. His hangover was not going well. He had already thrown up twice and it was looking like he'd might vomit again. Laurent hit him upside the head. Out of the three of them, Laurent looked the best. He had a slight headache and was a little nauseous but nothing he couldn't handle. Laurent had a high intolerance for alcohol.

Cassian just grunted. "Lesson learned, never challenge a butcher to a drinking game. It doesn't go well." Kaillas was just judging the others silently. He didn't quite understand the addiction to alcohol. It dulled the senses, and in his line of work, that was deadly.

Nico rejoined with their juices and bowls and porridge. He set one of each in front of Bel and then one in front of himself as he sat on the bench.

Bel laughs at the casualness of it all. Braxton looks like a dead man slumped over his bowl. Kaillas and Laurant look the best, with Braxton and Cassian clearly going to be nursing a headache and nauseous stomach for the rest of the day. Without anything else to really add, Bel goes quiet. Luckily, Nico returns quickly with their breakfast.

The porridge is without texture, but it's warm and tastes pleasant. He thanks Nico after taking a long sip of orange juice, the taste nice, cool, and comforting his scratchy throat. "Cassian, did you happen to win against the butcher?" The curious side of Bel asks.

Nico settled into the seat and took a deep gulp of his orange juice. He brushed a hand against Bel's back gently. He smirked as he caught the ends of the conversation, taking a bite of his porridge. Oh, Cassian had won indeed. He was stubborn and a sore loser.

Cassian looked up, a smirk sliding onto his lips. "Well of course I won. I wouldn't be in this condition if I had lost. I would be in a lot worse condition otherwise." He laughed then groaned as the sound rattled his hurting head.

Laurent chuckled quietly, receiving a kick from Cassian. "The only way Cassian would have lost was if he had blacked out. And he's clearly not so there's that. I'd say he's learned his lesson but this wasn't the first time he done this and it won't be the last." Nico made a nod of agreement. Cassian would likely never stop. A conversation they needed to have in private.

Watching the group interact with each other pulls at something deep within Bel. They're so close, so at ease around each other. They don't use titles or walk on ice or worry about saying the wrong thing and then being exiled.

"I love alcoholism," Bel says seriously, but his giggling laugh quickly gives him away. Damn his inability to stay serious when being sarcastic. He's quick to finish his porridge and sip at his orange juice, a habit he had gotten into when he was young. The quicker he ate, the quicker he was excused to work on his hobbies behind the closed door of the library or his room.

"Damn it." A low curse causes the princess to stir from within the small tent. Sighing, she rolls over, blinking up at the light through the thin canopy. Sitting up, Valera stretches and sighs. Beside her, Trey is still fast asleep beneath her selfish bundle of blankets. "Damn it all." Another grumbling curse and Val takes that as her excuse to get up.

"Everything alright?" She asks as she steps from the tent. Miran is cross-legged on the ground, his beloved horse sniffing his hair.

There's a scroll bunched in his hands and a small messenger crow picking at seeds only a few feet to his left. "No," he hisses, fist crackling the paper and the other hand brutally massaging his temple. "Uncle Brostron is dead."

"Mm. How?" Val takes her seat beside her brother. It's a cold morning, odd considering the weather had been much nicer the past few days.

Miran shrugs, much more violent than it needs to be. "Rumors say it was mages. I doubt it, honestly. Blakkast isn't one to just allow one into palace walls." Val's quiet, her indication for the Crown Prince to go on. "But Sella is on the throne now. She sent me this." He throws the scroll on the ground, Val watching as it slowly unfurls to show their cousin's flourishing signature at the bottom. "The alliance between Araniel and Blakkast is broken. Now that both our mother and her father are dead, she says there's no point in an alliance anymore."

"Fascinating." Val sighs, looking to the sky, then to their small tent, then to the four horses tied to a tree. "We need to get going, Miran. No point in fretting over something that we can't fix."

Nico didn't bother hiding his happiness. He pressed a kiss to the side of Bel's head. He ignore Laurent's whistle and laughed as the other two made noises of protest, holding their heads and complaining about the pain. Nico only shook his head at their antics. He wasn't going to hide his affections or his relationship. He knew how to reign in public displays of affection. He wasn't going to make out with Bel every other second. But it didn't mean he couldn't give him soft touches now and there. And the others weren't going to try and stop him.

Nico noticed how quickly Bel ate and made a note to speak to him about it later in privacy. It wasn't good for the stomach to eat so much. It could cause stomach problems. He took a few more bites of his porridge, his hand laying on Bel's knee under the table. The others wouldn't be able to tell from where they were sitting, not that any of them were really in a position to pay attention.

"Do you want another bowl?" Nico leaned in to ask him.

Trying to hide his smile, Bel leans into Nico's quick kiss. He was right about the other man not bothering to hide his affections. Granted Bel's hardly been a true relationship–the nearest thing being his brief long-distance courting with his arranged fiance Tacia of Irgeven–he has no idea how this works. Should it be private, public, touchy, reserved? Well, Bel supposes he'll allow Nico to set the pace and speak up if something's moving too fast–or too slow.

"Hm?" Bel, who had been lost in thought, takes a moment to process the question. "Oh, no I don't need another bowl. I'm full." He smiles in what he hopes is reassuring and takes another few sips of his orange juice, turning his attention to the lazy conversation of the men across from him.

Nico nodded his head and finished his food. He squeezed Bel's knee before looking at his men. "You two," he looked pointedly at Braxton and Cassian, "Head to the apothecary and get something to clear up your hangover." The man who ran it was a healer. His magic could clear up their hangovers in an instance and supply them with some medicines in case their stomachs decided to rebel later in the day. "Meet us at the stables when you're finished."

They knew a dismissal when they heard one. The two men got up, Laurent joining them. Laurent and Braxton where never far from one another. Their relationship was complicated and Nico decided it was better to keep his nose out of things.

"If you two are ready, we can go ahead to the stables to get ready until they rejoin us." Kaillas gave a nod in answer and then it was up to Bel. Nico wanted to give him the option to look around had anything else caught his eye from the day before.

With everyone gone, Bel drops his head to Nico's shoulder. "I'm ready to leave whenever you are," he says, though he doesn't want leave anywhere. He's just fine spending his days by Nico's side in this cozy inn with a lush marketplace and candles by the bed. "Going to go back to your home?" What could potentially be Bel's home, if Nico would allow it. It's almost a silly question; Bel knows that Nico wouldn't hesitate to burn the world if Bel asked.

"I think riding a horse may be slightly uncomfortable," Bel mutters quietly with a teasing tone to his voice.

With a simple look from Nico, Kaillas was up, settling their tabs at the bar, and heading to the stake to ensure everything would be ready for them when they departed.

Nico slipped his arm around his waist, dropping a kiss on his head. "Yes, we're going back to my home." Home was complicated. They had to pick uo and move whenever scouts got to close to their border. There had been one to many close calls. Everyone knew how to pack up their things with in the hour and be on the move. Too much practice. Too much if their lives had been uprooted. But it would never stop until Nico sat on the throne. Not even Nico himself could stop this. "It won't be anything like the palace. It won't even have to same comforts as here. But it's home and where my people live."

Tell him. Tell him now. It's the perfect time to tell him who he was. Tell him his name is Nicandros and he's the leader but he didn't. He couldn't.

Instead, Nico chuckled. "I'm very sorry, my dear. Would you like to go the apothecary for some ointment? I'll even help you apply it." He had a naughty glint in his eyes and a teasing smile.

"I'm sure it's lovely," Bel replies, already imagining what Nico's home would be like. There's trees and beautiful valleys and Nico with a small little home for him and Bel to share for the time being. Late nights and early mornings and only them, together. But that's only just a vision, other than that it's Nico's, Bel doesn't know anything about their destination. "Do I get to know the name of your home yet?" He at least hopes their growing relationship would leave some more trust. Bel's been nothing but open and honest, unafraid to tell anything if Nico would ask. None of it has been damning–a few stories about his home and his family, nothing that could potentially put Araniel in danger. Bel doesn't strike Nico as one to wish to fully destroy his home, but there is the lingering feeling of how they wound up in this whole situation.

Slightly pulling away from Nico, Bel stacks up their empty dishes and sets them in the middle of the table for a waitress to come retrieve. A heated look flashes through Bel's eyes at the suggestion. "As much as I would love that, I'm afraid we won't have the time," he whispers into Nico's ear. "I'd be happy for a rain check."

Nico was silent, mulling it kver. There was only so much he felt comfortbame revealing, even less so in public, even if most patrons present were his followers. "Its…there's no name. It's more of camp than a home really. It's beautiful but exhausting. We have to move every so often to avoid…being found. There's no real homes. Nothing permanent. It's all tents and a community effort." He felt a wave of disappointment thinking of the children in their camp. Small children, running and playing but never really knowing if this was the last time they were moving. If this was where they could put their roots down. And the answer was always no. Always no.

"You'll understand when you see it. It's hard to explain." And Nico felt more comfortable showing him than telling him. It put him in a vulnerable position to be so far away from home and compromise the integrity of his home.

He stepped out of the bench and held his hand out to help Bel up. He just gave him a lazy, pure boyish smile. "We will certainly put a raincheck in that. I'm holding you to that."

Bel has to think about what Nico had said. His home is nomadic, and so are his people.They move when a threat comes near–but that raises the question of who could be threatening Nico's nameless home. "How do you know where it will be?" He inquires. "What if they had to move places in your absense?" Gods, all this travelling for potentially nothing. "I hope it's still there for me to see. I'd quite like to see where you all came from."

Bel takes Nico's hand with a smile as the other man pulls him up. "I hope you do," he mutters into Nico's ear. They're out of the tavern and into the morning. Bel has to hold his hand up to shield his eyes while they adjust, not expecting to see the sun so bright so early. the stable luckily isn't too far.

Nico just smiled. He always knew where his home was, even if it had to move while he was away. A messenger hawk would come for him if he was ever away while they moved, the same curtsy given to any of his men and women if they were away from while they moved. The letters were, of course, in code. A code his mother had spent almost a decade perfecting.

Nico merely brushed his lips against Bel's cheek before stepping out of the tavern that had been their jome for the night. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the sunlight but he had already been walking hand in hand with Bel towards the stables. He had one last surprise for him there.

Without a firm answer, Bel shrugs and drops the topic, allowing him to be lead to the stables. It's been nearly a day since Bel's seen the stallions, and he misses them if he's being honest. He grew up around horses–he's used to their large and gentle presence. However, leaving the village means leaving beds and breakfasts and fine merchant carts behind him. He may know horses, but he has no idea what's to come.