"Perhaps---yes, I think so." Estinien's still staring at him like he's a revelation, a figure worthy of worship and awe. Like he's helpless before the face of this man in orgasm. "The lingering power of the eye, and the blood, it--it does unusual things sometimes. It is not dangerous, I would pay it no mind." Sometimes he forgets it's not normal to live this way, a piece of you always belonging to something else.
"I was not paying attention, regardless. You are...it is easy to be distracted by you." Gaius has none of the Ishgardian physical virtues - no sharp cheekbones, sleek ears, delicate bone structure. Estinien has never craved these things anyway.
Instead he has a solid slab of muscle, a man with a jawline to die for and a straight, sharp nose. (His cheekbones are still quite fine.) But he is not delicate. Not like that. He has his slightly pearlescent Third Eye, but thats the only thing of an odd sort of beauty to him.
Gaius realizes, he says, that this is so dangerous to them; that feelings crop up and that there are terrible costs they must pay to complete their missions. But it does not stop him from rewarding Estinien's tenderness with a slow kiss, taking the time to savor the taste of the dragoon's mouth. If there are feelings, so be it. Gaius has had them, and had set them aside in the name of his duty more times than he can count. He can do so again.
"It was barely glimpsed," Gaius assures him between kisses. "To focus about anything except you was difficult at best."
Estinien has them but can barely recognize them, it has been so long with every waking thought devoted to pushing back the vengeful roaring of both his own soul and Nidhogg's. He knows he wants this man, but he can't pinpoint on why.
"Pay it no mind," he says, stroking his fingers down Gaius's face. How wonderful, to see him fully and properly in the light. So many beautiful scars - Estinien feels as mangled as Gaius looks, and he finds that symmetry pleasing. "It will not harm you."
"I trust you," Gaius says with completely sincerity. He knows that his man is also part a beast, that fell blood runs in his veins, that his body was taken and ravaged by the great wyrm Nidhogg...
But the man in his arms, he trusts that man. Trust can be deadly, but he feels safe in giving it to him. Perhaps this is the most dangerous -- feeling safe anywhere can be death for a soldier.
The words seem to make Estinien uncomfortable, but he permits them to be
said without protest. No one should trust him, in his opinion. He's
not...safe. Not part of the society he fought to protect and not part of
the one outside it either. It was why he left Ishgard, left Eorzea
entirely...
But such thoughts draw him out of Gaius's arms and he'd like to stay there
as long as possible. "You mentioned bathing?" he said abruptly, trying to
get Gaius to stop focusing on what about him might be worth wanting.
"Yes," Gaius says, still limp and languid in the bed. "I did. The place has hot running water, so all you need to do is to go to the watercloset off the side there, and see the spigot above the tub -- turn it so the water begins to run. But don't turn it all the way-- otherwise we'll get nothing but hot water and no cool to temper it, and it'll be burning hot if we get in. Ishgard has indoor plumbing, yes? So like that."
At least, he knows they have fountains and fonts and things like that-- so they must have running water, and knowing their chill country, boilers as well.
"We do, I've used them before. Aymeric's estate has them." Estinien's
rather a bit of an outlier - much of Ishgard has indoor plumbing and
heating, aside the poor wretches down in the Brume, but Estinien...Estinien
barely even owns property outside of that which he carries. Didn't even
expect to retire. This bold new world where his endless quest is ended is
still very strange to him.
So yes, he does need to be reminded that baths are a thing you do more than
once a month. Reluctantly and still very naked he slips out of the bed and
goes to dutifully turn the water on. "Now what?" he calls back over the
sound of running water.
Gaius, not as young as he used to, stretches and enjoys the pleasant sort of soreness that comes with a good lay. He rests there, sticky and messy, yes, but content.
"Wait until the tub's reached at lesat half full -- don't over fill, once we get in the water'll rise much higher."
There's silence from Estinien as the tap runs, and then the gentle sounds
of splashed water and slurping - even as it comes out of the tap Estinien's
pawing at it for a drink to soothe his throat. Yes, he knows manners, he's
been trained and all that. Certainly most of Ishgard would see him as
almost as barbaric as Gaius does. But he feels most comfortable when he
doesn't have to pretend to be the civilized creature he's not.
More dragon than man, is what he feels sometimes. Of course now that he
knows what dragons truly are he can't even use that as an
excuse...Hraesvalgr and his brood are far above his savagery.
As Gaius regains feelings in his legs, he rouses up, and eventually manages to get to his feet. He is slick and sore, but manages to hobble to the tub. When he sees the man drinking from the tap as such, he gives a little sigh. He drifts fingers through the water-- yes, getting warm. That's a start. As soon as the basin is filled he's grabbing the soap from the dish.
Perched nude on the edge of the tub, fingers trailing in the water he looks like one of the beautiful depictions of the Virtues-As-Flesh seen on the walls of the Emperor's palace - a humanoid embodiment of a thing to be striven for.
Save for the scars, the burns, and the stray burrs still present in his long hair. And drinking out of the tap like a pet monkey.
"We're sharing, or taking turns?" he asks. The tub is small but they'd fit if they got close. Which he's hardly against, braced as he is. Gaius can have a proper good look at him now with all three eyes, wiry muscle and long limbs leading to powerful but thin fingers.
"Get in here, Wyrmblood, and don't waste the hot water lapping it up," Gaius says; God, he's fucking beautiful. Like a feral animal is in the wild -- a real wolf, gleaming white and magnificient but also liable to tear your arm off.
He had his scars, too -- chasing up both arms, across his chest, leaving welts where the armor had seared it's patterns into his body. Both kissed by flame, both coming away from it all the harder for. "You need soap and water, and a soak. I promise you, we'll both feel better for it."
Estinien slides in, settling himself back against Gaius's chest. Yes, this is a sex cuddle thing, he's not so dense he's missed that. "I do see the pleasures of it," he says, toying with the washcloth that's been left out. "Though it seems inefficient. I hope you don't expect me to wash you like some Garlean bathhouse boy."
He's heard those are things. He's unclear what they do but he knows they're things.
"Some-- what?" Gaius laughs, breath hot against his ear, before he snatches up soap and the washcloth, so he can scrub Estinien's back, get his hair wet and yes, soap-slick so he can wiggle the burrs from it. "First off, it's Ala Mhigan bathhouses. We have saunas. Bath Houses were an import, and only for those able to afford such things."
Sometimes Estinien's ignorance is amusing. Sometimes it's aggravating. This time? It's downright funny.
Estinien makes a uncharacteristic squeak when the washcloth goes over his ears, but he's gotten the worst of his resistance fucked out of him and reluctantly lets himself be scrubbed. Better than cold water and a thick-hair brush. And the company is far more pleasant.
"I wasn't exactly reading all the missives from outside," he grumbled. "It wasn't relevant." The brief tension slides from his shoulders, limbs going slack as the heat sinks into them. Oh. Oh this is bliss of another sort, slow and quiet, not fast and joyful, but bliss all the same.
Gaius hums thoughtfully, plucking each bur away-- and...is that a twig? It is. He's got a twig in there. "Slide down a little bit," he says after a moment, when he's sure all of the forest that Estinien smuggled in with him is now outside the tub. "So I can get your hair wet and clean it properly."
It's soap, and not fancy oils and shampoos. But it's better than nothing, and at least it'll get the grime out.
Estinien sinks into the water, offering a bit of lovely friction against
Gaius's dick in the process. His head sinks briefly underwater and he
surfaces up to his nose again, the long silvery hair pooling and coiling
about him in the tub like the way mystics described seeing the pooling of
aether around spirits.
He's a forest spirit, that much Gaius knows. Wild, untrammled and free. He strokes through his hair, lloosening it up, getting the grime off it as soap takes it away--
--before he cups his hands behind Estinien's head to lift it just enough so that he can kiss the other man's lips without enduring bathwater up his own nose.
There's a pliancy to the other man that wasn't there before. Estinien takes his kisses with happy sighs, breaching the water ever so slightly. His fingers run down Gaius's calves under the water, tracing scars and soft dark hair.
"You look quite content," Gaius said, letting his hand wander, light touches over his chest, the rippling scars on his shoulders. "Half of me wants to very slowly fuck you, and half of me just wants to see you this relaxed and keep you like this."
Rare are the quiet moments, where they simply get to just be.
"You did promise we'd fuck again," Estinien notes, though he seems to be in no hurry for it. His head lolls back happily. "And it'll be easy enough to clean up, here."
He'd be content to stay here until the water cools too, really. Feeling held in these powerful arms, rubbed down, nurtured - post-orgasm it's hard to ward such thoughts away.
"I did, didn't I?" Gaius says, running his hands over Estinien's chest, before he stops to just gently touch the other man's nipples, teasing them a bit as he talked. "And it would. Do you want me to fuck you, then?"
His hands slide, till he can wrap his arms around his waist and press tight to his back, whispering in one long ear: "We don't get many chances like this, Estinien. We should squeeze very ounce of joy from the time we have."
EStinien squirms a bit, kicking up little splashes of water as his chest is touched. HE fancies he can feel Gaius's erection pressing against him already, and his own rises quickly enough to meet it. Such delicate touches and the dragoon is helpless in his arms. "Then have your way," he hisses. Have him. However it pleases you because Estinien trusts it will be good.
It is so rare as to be more precious than gems. Gaius sighs softly, a little wanton noise that hardly sounds like it belongs to the burly Garlean commander. But the drops his hand down to stroke the cock that's already rising for him-- and then his other hand slides under, finding his hole to work open in warm, relaxing water.
Estinien rises out of the lovely bath, water streaming from his shoulders, bracing against the rim of the tub with his hips up. He wonders privately how many times a man can go in one night- what they would do if they had all the time in the world, none of the concerns about noise or mess or getting up the next morning. How many times would Gaius send him into whited-out bliss if Estinien gave him a full night just to work him over.
The thought makes his grip tense on the tub rim, and let out a soft noise as Gaius' fingers work their way into him.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2022-11-02 01:18 pm (UTC)"I was not paying attention, regardless. You are...it is easy to be distracted by you." Gaius has none of the Ishgardian physical virtues - no sharp cheekbones, sleek ears, delicate bone structure. Estinien has never craved these things anyway.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-02 03:43 pm (UTC)Gaius realizes, he says, that this is so dangerous to them; that feelings crop up and that there are terrible costs they must pay to complete their missions. But it does not stop him from rewarding Estinien's tenderness with a slow kiss, taking the time to savor the taste of the dragoon's mouth. If there are feelings, so be it. Gaius has had them, and had set them aside in the name of his duty more times than he can count. He can do so again.
"It was barely glimpsed," Gaius assures him between kisses. "To focus about anything except you was difficult at best."
no subject
Date: 2022-11-05 06:36 pm (UTC)"Pay it no mind," he says, stroking his fingers down Gaius's face. How wonderful, to see him fully and properly in the light. So many beautiful scars - Estinien feels as mangled as Gaius looks, and he finds that symmetry pleasing. "It will not harm you."
no subject
Date: 2022-11-07 06:41 pm (UTC)But the man in his arms, he trusts that man. Trust can be deadly, but he feels safe in giving it to him. Perhaps this is the most dangerous -- feeling safe anywhere can be death for a soldier.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-07 07:25 pm (UTC)The words seem to make Estinien uncomfortable, but he permits them to be said without protest. No one should trust him, in his opinion. He's not...safe. Not part of the society he fought to protect and not part of the one outside it either. It was why he left Ishgard, left Eorzea entirely...
But such thoughts draw him out of Gaius's arms and he'd like to stay there as long as possible. "You mentioned bathing?" he said abruptly, trying to get Gaius to stop focusing on what about him might be worth wanting.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-11 02:52 pm (UTC)At least, he knows they have fountains and fonts and things like that-- so they must have running water, and knowing their chill country, boilers as well.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-11 03:32 pm (UTC)"We do, I've used them before. Aymeric's estate has them." Estinien's rather a bit of an outlier - much of Ishgard has indoor plumbing and heating, aside the poor wretches down in the Brume, but Estinien...Estinien barely even owns property outside of that which he carries. Didn't even expect to retire. This bold new world where his endless quest is ended is still very strange to him.
So yes, he does need to be reminded that baths are a thing you do more than once a month. Reluctantly and still very naked he slips out of the bed and goes to dutifully turn the water on. "Now what?" he calls back over the sound of running water.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-11 04:42 pm (UTC)"Wait until the tub's reached at lesat half full -- don't over fill, once we get in the water'll rise much higher."
no subject
Date: 2022-11-11 07:09 pm (UTC)There's silence from Estinien as the tap runs, and then the gentle sounds of splashed water and slurping - even as it comes out of the tap Estinien's pawing at it for a drink to soothe his throat. Yes, he knows manners, he's been trained and all that. Certainly most of Ishgard would see him as almost as barbaric as Gaius does. But he feels most comfortable when he doesn't have to pretend to be the civilized creature he's not.
More dragon than man, is what he feels sometimes. Of course now that he knows what dragons truly are he can't even use that as an excuse...Hraesvalgr and his brood are far above his savagery.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-13 02:24 am (UTC)"Come on, this won't stay warm forever."
no subject
Date: 2022-11-13 02:39 am (UTC)Save for the scars, the burns, and the stray burrs still present in his long hair. And drinking out of the tap like a pet monkey.
"We're sharing, or taking turns?" he asks. The tub is small but they'd fit if they got close. Which he's hardly against, braced as he is. Gaius can have a proper good look at him now with all three eyes, wiry muscle and long limbs leading to powerful but thin fingers.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-13 04:27 am (UTC)He had his scars, too -- chasing up both arms, across his chest, leaving welts where the armor had seared it's patterns into his body. Both kissed by flame, both coming away from it all the harder for. "You need soap and water, and a soak. I promise you, we'll both feel better for it."
no subject
Date: 2022-11-13 04:36 am (UTC)He's heard those are things. He's unclear what they do but he knows they're things.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-13 04:44 am (UTC)Sometimes Estinien's ignorance is amusing. Sometimes it's aggravating. This time? It's downright funny.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-13 05:01 am (UTC)"I wasn't exactly reading all the missives from outside," he grumbled. "It wasn't relevant." The brief tension slides from his shoulders, limbs going slack as the heat sinks into them. Oh. Oh this is bliss of another sort, slow and quiet, not fast and joyful, but bliss all the same.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-13 05:41 am (UTC)It's soap, and not fancy oils and shampoos. But it's better than nothing, and at least it'll get the grime out.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-13 04:12 pm (UTC)Estinien sinks into the water, offering a bit of lovely friction against Gaius's dick in the process. His head sinks briefly underwater and he surfaces up to his nose again, the long silvery hair pooling and coiling about him in the tub like the way mystics described seeing the pooling of aether around spirits.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-13 04:46 pm (UTC)--before he cups his hands behind Estinien's head to lift it just enough so that he can kiss the other man's lips without enduring bathwater up his own nose.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-13 07:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-11-13 07:42 pm (UTC)Rare are the quiet moments, where they simply get to just be.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-14 02:24 pm (UTC)He'd be content to stay here until the water cools too, really. Feeling held in these powerful arms, rubbed down, nurtured - post-orgasm it's hard to ward such thoughts away.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-20 02:58 am (UTC)His hands slide, till he can wrap his arms around his waist and press tight to his back, whispering in one long ear: "We don't get many chances like this, Estinien. We should squeeze very ounce of joy from the time we have."
no subject
Date: 2022-11-20 03:09 am (UTC)A trust Gaius likely finds very rare.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-22 04:42 am (UTC)"I will have it my way; have you, my way."
no subject
Date: 2022-11-23 02:18 pm (UTC)The thought makes his grip tense on the tub rim, and let out a soft noise as Gaius' fingers work their way into him.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From: