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Humidity clings to Hyoma’s skin tighter than the corset he wears atop a looser flowing blouse, the sun beaming down on his back and leaving a thin sheen of sweat in its wake. His arms stretch to either side of him as he clings to the stone railing in order to hold himself upright on his balcony, swallows thickly and feels his lids go heavy, tongue peeking out hungrily between his lips as he watches the show.
His bedroom provides a front row view into the courtyard below. The large fountain in the middle of everything is the centerpiece of the Chigiri royal family castle and surrounded by perfectly trimmed hedges, flowers as far as the eye can see, and decorated in white and magenta trimmings. Not one curtain out of place, no speck of dust left to roam free; everyone in his family’s employ was treated well, and in return, they kept the grand manor looking like a proper Kinkade painting come to life.
But that’s not what holds Hyoma’s focus.
Just west of the fountain and closer still under his window are the knight’s quarters and training grounds, where one knight in particular is making Hyoma’s life extremely difficult.
He sucks in a breath as he watches the way Knight Commander Kunigami’s– Rensuke’s – muscles ripple under the heat of the sun. His shirt is nowhere to be seen, uniform pants hanging so low on his hips that Hyoma almost wants to have him called up to his room to chastise him for the indecency. A group of knights gathered nearby seem to yell something over to Rensuke before they walk closer, and Hyoma watches those handsome features break out into a laugh before he nods and reaches for the sword hilted at his waist.
Hyoma can’t tell if he can actually hear the sound of metal being unsheathed all the way from up here or if the sound that rings true is just his own pained hiss, hands tightening on the railing to keep the sudden flame in his belly from guiding him downstairs. The way corded muscles flex and pull along Rensuke’s arms is intoxicating; Hyoma knows that swinging around a chunk of metal like that is no easy feat, yet he makes it look effortless.
His lips purse as he watches Rensuke’s stance, eyes following the curves of his broad shoulders to his waist, down to the dimples on his lower back that have no right being as attractive as they are. Rensuke moves with the strength and quickness expected of a man with his rank, his sword striking the target dummy in quick succession, fluid and beautiful.
Fingers press down between his ribs as Hyoma sucks in a steadying breath, tracing the boning on his corset down south, and maybe, if he’s quick enough–
Three knocks on his bedroom door pull away the hand halfway down his pants, a cheery, “Good afternoon, Prince Chigiri!” from one of his attendants bursting through his fantasies.
“Your father has requested an audience with you prior to your riding practice, your highness.” She continues, unaware or perhaps simply undeterred by what she had almost caught him doing. Every urge and instinct is yelling at him to look down at Rensuke one more time before he pries himself away from the balcony, but he doesn’t. “I will have a change of clothes ready for you, and then Sir Raichi will–”
“No,” Hyoma finds himself saying before he can second guess himself. He feels how warm the back of his neck is, and tells himself maybe it’s residual heat from the sun beaming down on him. “Send for Commander Kunigami instead. He’s not busy today, is he?”
His attendant’s brows furrow, Hyoma watches her open her mouth as if to protest and then closes it. She’s trying to think of how to word what she wants to say politely and Hyoma doesn’t blame her.
“He isn’t, but…”
But is it prudent to pull the Commander away from overseeing training? But does he really need the Commander, specifically, to accompany him on a simple horseback riding excursion, when surely he has better things to do?
Hyoma can think of all manner of questions she has for him, but he refuses to fill the gaps for her, simply offering her a patient smile– because by his refusal to address her concerns before she’s openly expressed them, the young woman seems to think better of it and shakes her head.
“I’ll let the Commander know there’s been a change of plans.”
As cheerfully as she had done so when entering his room, Hyoma smiles and says a quick word of thanks before he slips out the door past her to see what his father wants.
“Did I hurt you? What’s wrong?”
Nothing. Everything. Hyoma can’t tell which one would be the lie.
The hand knotted in his hair slides down to brush fingertips across his cheek and oh , he’s crying. Hyoma can’t remember the last time that happened. His lips part to swallow enough air to fill his lungs with everything that had annoyed him– being interrupted and questioned by his attendant, the subsequent talk with his father, the having to sneak around– and exhales to try and physically push them all out.
He’d left his father’s study in a huff, hastily changed into his riding clothes and hurried to the stables where Rensuke was already waiting for him with a pleasant smile. Handsome, wonderful Rensuke who didn’t deserve to have that smile taken away after clocking the moody look on Hyoma’s features. Who didn’t deserve to be ignored as they rode their horses out in silence, fast, just the way Hyoma likes. Rensuke keeps up just behind him as he usually does regardless.
They had ridden far away from the family castle, away from prying eyes and news he doesn’t want to face, instead falling into Rensuke’s open arms when they’re hidden under a thick canopy of trees, his back pressed against rough bark as his knight greedily claimed him.
“Father wants me to marry,” Hyoma explains. Rensuke’s fingers that still help hoist him up tighten their hold on his thigh while his other hand wipes away any stray tears that remain. “Apparently he and Lord Mikage have been talking , and they felt that because Reo and I are already friends, we’d have no objections.”
Rensuke’s brows sink into a deep furrow. “But Reo is–”
“In love with Seishiro, I know.”
“And you’re–”
“In love with you . I know.”
It’s cute how Rensuke huffs and tries to tamper down his smile over the admission, as if it’s information he’s hearing for the first time and not the reality that they’ve been in love for as long as Hyoma can remember. As if they haven’t been carefully slipping away from prying eyes for years now as it’s become harder and harder to hold back from each other.
Rensuke presses a kiss to his forehead and Hyoma whines softly when he suddenly finds himself empty, hands finding stability on Rensuke’s shoulders as his dutiful knight kneels in front of him.
“Who said I was done having your cock inside me?” Hyoma grumbles, and for a moment he hopes Rensuke wants to go again after he laughs. That he’s on his knees for no reason other than to pull another orgasm out of him– but he’s not that lucky, and Rensuke doesn’t take the bait.
“Are you going to marry him?”
How Rensuke is keeping his composure, asking that while he’s on his knees to pull up Hyoma’s pants, he’ll never know. His hands both go into that mop of orange, pushing Rensuke’s bangs away from his face as Rensuke tucks Hyoma back into his pants and then himself.
“Not without a fight.”
Hyoma doesn’t blame Rensuke for how shaky his smile is then; they’d always thought Hyoma’s older sister would be the one tasked with taking over the family, the one who would have to bear the burden of a loveless political marriage. It’s selfish of him, he knows, but he’d let himself hope.
Standing to his full height, seeing Rensuke right in front of him is just as exciting as watching him from his balcony above, even if he did eventually find that shirt (a pity). Hyoma reaches for him, arms wrapping around his strong torso to breathe in the comforting scent of bergamot and cedar.
“Princess,” Rensuke kisses into his hair, the title exclusively used by his knight but so close to what it is in actuality that it never fails to make Hyoma’s cheeks pinken. “Don’t ruin your life for my sake.”
It’s not what Hyoma expects to hear, the surprise of it enough to have him pulling back to shoot Rensuke a glare– if only he’d meet his eyes. Hyoma huffs softly and brings his hands to the nape of Rensuke’s neck to physically guide him into looking his way, dual sunsets meeting dark magenta.
“What an insensitive knight I have, even after I just said I’m in love with you.” Hyoma can feel the way tension eases off Rensuke’s handsome features, the sharpened edges on his expression from years as a Commander slowly giving way to boyish charm. “Do you love me too, Rensuke?”
“Of course I do.”
“Then trust me.”
Hyoma agrees to meet with Reo after his father’s completely unnecessary insistence.
Their houses were in good standing and the two practically grew up together. Having a friend to suffer through all the boring etiquette sessions and dreadfully stuffy parties with him was the only way Hyoma even managed to survive them. They still see each other regularly even without the pretense of a grand event– a fact that his parents had waved off this time, citing how different and special an engagement meeting was, especially as it was to be followed by an engagement party just a week later.
It had taken everything Hyoma had in him not to simply jump out of their carriage and off the nearest ravine, reasoning that perhaps the overreaction would be just a tad too hasty.
They were greeted at the doors of the Mikage manor, pleasantries exchanged as their parents went inside to talk logistics while Hyoma and Reo escaped to the gardens. It’s a nice day, all things considered. Perhaps they’ll get some rain soon to help ease some of the stagnant heat away, but it could be worse.
Reo’s voice bursts through his thoughts, “I’m going to run away, Hyoma. Don’t try to stop me.”
“Hah? What?”
Surely he didn’t hear that correctly. His own incredulous expression is met with determination, Reo’s underlying nerves betraying him in the way his hands wring together in front of him. They were far enough away from the main house now, deep enough in the gardens to warrant honesty as his friend clears his throat.
“I’ve been planning it for a year now, so it’s not a decision I’m taking lightly. You know about… my situation with Seishiro. No matter which angle I approached it from, this world,” Reo gestures around him, toward the home he refuses to glance at, “just isn’t right for us. We need to make our own.”
Hyoma nods, slowly, processing. It makes sense.
“I’ll be gone by the end of the week, on the day of the party, and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to see you again, so I… I wanted you to hear the truth from me.”
One of his hands settles on Reo’s shoulder to give it a reassuring squeeze. It’s a kind gesture, up until Hyoma’s drawing his hand back to pinch the skin of Reo’s forearm until he draws out a yelp.
“Stop worrying, I’ll keep your secret. This works out in my favor too.” Hyoma hums in response to Reo’s curious tilt, hands clasping behind his back as he idly sways on the balls of his feet. “I want to go public with Rensuke. I’m tired of acting like I don’t know everything about him–”
“I’ll say!”
“ And ,” he presses on, undeterred by the interruption, “I know we can’t keep doing this for much longer.”
Not when people are bound to get suspicious soon enough. Not when he’s seen the way Rensuke looks at him every time he has to leave for some assignment without a proper goodbye. Or the way he doesn’t actually fare any better, wrought with worry that something could happen and everything he’s kept inside would come tumbling out if he were to grieve too strongly for a common knight who’s managed to work his way up, but isn’t climbing any higher by birthright alone.
“It’s different with you, Hyoma. You’re a king’s son.” Reo’s tone remains airy, simply pointing out a fact, and Hyoma grins.
He echoes Reo’s words right back at him, “Don’t try to stop me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
The two look at each other for a moment longer, donning matching conspiratory grins before they make their way back to Reo’s manor together, feeling much more relieved than when the day started.
Two days later, Hyoma had already devised a plan.
That he’d snuck out of his room under the cover of night to share.
While in the middle of riding Rensuke’s dick like his life depends on it, apparently.
“ So ,” Hyoma grinds his hips down, hard, in an act that is both a genuine search for pleasure as well as a way to rile Rensuke up further. He’s already had to repeat himself twice. “You’ll need to show up wearing something nice .”
Rensuke groans under him, hands digging into Hyoma’s thighs as he frantically nods in response. Cute. Hyoma rewards him by rolling his hips and leaning back, draping himself across Rensuke’s bent knees for support. It puts his body on display, flushed and wanting and so wholly Rensuke’s, Hyoma knows his knight can’t resist looking down at where their bodies meet.
He sinks down onto Rensuke’s cock, slower this time, licking his lips as he admires the blown out pupils on his lover’s face and the way his fingers tremble on his thighs with every inch he takes. Rensuke is too easy to tease, Hyoma can’t help himself. “Pervert.”
A deep laugh rings true on his throat, but Rensuke doesn’t argue. One of his hands slides down from Hyoma’s thigh, fingers dragging across slick skin until they’re met with the outer rim of Hyoma’s hole, twitching tightly around him in its grip. The pads of his fingers trace along the sensitive curve of skin and Hyoma’s breath hitches so sharply, Rensuke’s other hand tightens on his hip to keep him in place.
“You shouldn’t throw stones when you’re living in a glass castle, princess.” The sound that leaves Hyoma when Rensuke’s fingers prod further, stretching him to be able to slide in two fingers alongside his cock, makes both of them blush.
Encouraged by it, Rensuke holds Hyoma steady as his feet find purchase in the mattress below and sharply fucks into him. All Hyoma can do is take it as that strong hand keeps him from moving his own hips in tandem and it feels like torture being made to focus on the way Rensuke is making him feel so full, on the way his own arousal bounces and actively drips precum at the tip, on the way that Rensuke is looking at him with sunset eyes so darkened by desire, he looks like he wants to eat Hyoma alive.
And Hyoma would simply let him.
“Why don’t you play with your tits for me, princess?”
“ Ren– ”
Hyoma gasps, tries to pout but what comes out instead is a needy keen, the ‘I don’t have tits, idiot’ in protest he wants to say dying in his throat as Hyoma slides his hands over his stomach. Up over his ribs, until his palms splay flat just under each nipple. He’s not sure what Rensuke had in mind when he made the request, but the color that rises in his own cheeks doesn’t feel as embarrassing when Rensuke groans under him the moment he tries tentatively squeezing his chest.
Lithe fingers squeeze and trace over the fleshier parts of his chest, and Hyoma would be lying if he said he didn’t like it when Rensuke got like this. The man was generally the epitome of a knight in shining armor, all good-natured smiles and an eagerness to help others. It was that sweetness coupled with how competent he actually was that initially drew Hyoma to him.
Sometimes, however, the primal edge that was usually reserved for survival reared its head, and Hyoma was able to reap the rewards.
His hair sticks to his forehead with sweat and Hyoma tucks it behind his ear before his hands are back at his chest, fingers pinching and pulling at the hardened buds on his chest, rosy under the attention. The motion has Rensuke gasping and fuck , Hyoma had forgotten about his fingers adding to the stretch until he moves them in further with each thrust.
“You know,” Rensuke starts, his voice coated in arousal thick as honey. “I could just have you bear my child. There’d be no objections to us being together then, would there?”
Hyoma sees stars. His entire body feels like it becomes a star, burning so hot and ready to combust, and yet all he can do in return is frantically nod.
“Do it, Rensuke, please ,” Hyoma begs, and thankfully his knight delivers.
The fingers inside him slide out with a lewd wet pop and Rensuke’s hand curls around Hyoma’s cock instead, stroking him hard and fast to match the way his hips roll into him. Coupled with the thought of Rensuke’s seed spilling inside him, filling him up over and over in an attempt to bear a child that would never come, it's enough to drive Hyoma over the edge, his release painting Rensuke’s hand and stomach in white streaks.
He hears Rensuke grind out a moan when Hyoma’s body instinctively tightens around him, his own release following suit as he makes good on his promise to fill him. Hyoma whines at the warmth that seeps right to his very core as Rensuke’s hips stutter, fucking into him even after he’s come as if to push his seed deeper inside him, until he gradually slows to a stop.
Hyoma has never been so in love. Shaky hands reach out toward Rensuke’s chest as Hyoma braces his descent, carefully lowering himself until his ear is pressed over his knight’s heart to feel its steady, soothing thrum as they come down. He feels Rensuke kiss the top of his head as he wraps his arms around him and simply lets Hyoma enjoy the moment of feeling so thoroughly full, both in body and the overflowing affection he feels for this man.
Tomorrow he’ll have to sneak out of Rensuke’s room before the sun comes up. They’ll go about their day stealing subtle glances at each other whenever they can while everyone around them is none the wiser. For tonight, Hyoma lets himself pretend that they have the luxury of being leisurely lovers, and imagines what it would be like for him to watch Rensuke perform his morning routine.
The end of the week feels like it comes sooner than Hyoma expects it to, perhaps because he knows what’s going to happen– it’s his engagement party tonight, and his originally intended groom won't even be here.
He’s dressed for the occasion regardless, fitted white pants and white lycra top snug against his chest and sitting high up on his neck. The cluster of pearls around Hyoma’s neck extends down over his shoulders like a shawl in place of sleeves, clicking together gently with every step of his knee-high boots. Long waves of tulle trail behind him at the waist where a sash has been tied behind his back into a big poofy bow, shimmering in pearlescent splendor as he makes his way out toward the top of the stairs.
The sounds of the party downstairs grow quiet as his arrival is announced and he takes the stairs one at a time, head held high. He’s the embodiment of poise, perfectly fitting for a prince even if he wasn’t wearing the crown nestled comfortably in long red locks.
Soft murmurs follow when Hyoma reaches the bottom of the grand staircase and in place of the Mikage heir, it’s Rensuke who steps forward.
Rensuke, in all his handsome glory. Dressed in matching white, a perfectly tailored brocade suit with his own belt of pearls at the waist, his unruly mess of hair slicked back for the occasion. Hyoma would jump down the stairs and into his arms if they weren’t already standing in front of each other, Rensuke’s head dipped low to kiss the back of his hand as he bows.
“You’re beautiful, princess.” he murmurs against Hyoma’s skin, heat rising up into his cheeks to create a lovely bloom of red against his attire.
A hand motions for him to rise and Rensuke obeys. Hyoma’s hand cups the other man’s cheek and draws him in for a kiss in front of their audience, captive in their stunned silence. He’s tired of hiding. At least this way, whatever happens, they’ll face it together.
“Thank you.” Hyoma smiles against Rensuke’s lips, magenta gaze meeting sunshine, a comfort he hopes to indulge in for the rest of his days as he adds, “My knight, my hero. My love.”