For Sinric

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan's room is almost pathologically neat, the bed made and everything in its place.

He stands aside to let Sinric in, the bathroom door standing open to reveal the huge sunken bath inside.

Comments

[thewidewideworld]

"I never. I never thought." He whimpers again, getting close to an end he's never seen before. "Please?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"Oriens", Athelstan murmurs and kisses him again fiercely, speeding up as he draws close to his own peak. "I'll do what I can. Tell me what feels best."

[thewidewideworld]

"There. Just...there." He moans as Athelstan finds that perfect spot. He reaches between them, touching himself in short, desperate stokes.

It's too much, too new and strange. He cries out harshly as his first orgasm overtakes him.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan takes him in his arms, holding him as it sweeps through him, and rides to his own completion.

"There", he says with another kiss. "There."

[thewidewideworld]

It's too much all at once and tears spill over at the corners of his eyes. His breath comes in broken little starts, unsteady and rough.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan wipes the tears away with his thumbs, still tender.

"Has no one really ever brought you to this before?"

He spares a scornful thought for how little they must have tried.

[thewidewideworld]

"I've never... I didn't think they could? I didn't think I could." He sobs, trembling in Athelstan's arms.

[athelstanthescribe]

"Well, now we know you can." He keeps the youth safe and warm in his arms, coming down from his climax. "You can stay with me here as long as you like."

[thewidewideworld]

"I shouldn't. I should go." He doesn't want to but he's scared and exposed and part of him wants to run from that.

[athelstanthescribe]

If he wants to, Athelstan will let him go. But if he doesn't...

"Are you sure?"

[thewidewideworld]

"Yes. No." He isn't sure of anything. "I don't know." He buries his face in Athelstan's shoulder.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan strokes his hair, sorry to have caused this vulnerability but not sorry for what caused it.

"When you have to go", he whispers, "I won't stop you. But you're welcome to stay, and no one will notice your absence through the magic of this place."

[thewidewideworld]

"You really don't mind?" He asks softly, soothed by the stroking of his hair.

"This place really is magic then?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"I don't mind a bit", Athelstan assures him. "And neither would my lord Ragnar, should he come in. Yes, this place really is magic, and time will wait for you, paused, back in Constantinople."

[thewidewideworld]

"You would share me with him? If he wanted?" He doesn't seem troubled by the idea, just curious about their relationship.

"That might be useful. There are too many days I don't get to sleeps till well after dawn." Courtesan's hours.

[athelstanthescribe]

"If you wanted", he says firmly. "He has no more interest in an unwilling partner than I do. But yes, if you both wanted, I would. As he would have shared me with his first wife, and I share him with his second."

[thewidewideworld]

"So his wives know they you're lovers? That's rare. Many men I deal with would be ashamed for their women to know they enjoy the pleasures of men. That's part of the reason the Emperor has us dress the way we do. That and I look better in dresses than half the women in court." There's a little of his former strength starting to leak back.

[athelstanthescribe]

He laughs dryly.

"Princess Aslaug knows nothing of what's between us. But Lady Lagertha, before she left him... the very first night I was in their house, they came together to invite me to their bed."

He regrets now that he didn't go.

"And you do look very good in a dress."

[thewidewideworld]

"So you're having to be careful. That must be hard?" He cocks his head sympathetically. This is the other part he's good at, the listening. "Did she desire you? Or did she know already that you desired each other?"

He smiles brightly, pushing back his golden mane, somewhat mussed now. "And that's just a stola for dancing. You should see me in a full dalmatic."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Very difficult indeed. It isn't only his wife... no one can know there, for reasons I'm sure you can guess at. I believe Lady Lagertha desired me, but she must have known that Earl Ragnar did as well, and she seemed not to mind a whit." He smiles to see Sinric's confidence returning. "One day, I should like to."

[thewidewideworld]

"She sounds like a wonderful lady. Is she... no longer around?"

"Perhaps next time I come here, it will be dressed in my finery rather than just the clothes I was wearing to get back to my bed."

[athelstanthescribe]

"She left him", he says sadly, "and took their son. It was because of Princess Aslaug and the child she carried... she felt, in the end, she could not live with it and keep her pride. We don't know where they went, or if they still live." But he believes in his heart they do. "That will be a sight to see."

[thewidewideworld]

"That must be very hard on both of you, if she was more... understanding of you both." He brushes a gentle hand through Athelstan's hair, getting himself together again. "I have no doubt your paths will cross again." Because there should always be hope.

"A Persian trader made me a gift of the most beautiful length of blue silk. The dalmatic the court tailor made it into hugs my chest perfectly and makes my chest look as full as any woman. And river pearls around the hem make it shine." He's very fond of that dress.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan tips his head into the touch, enjoying the simple comfort of lying together, now the sex is done. He could have gone without it, except it seemed expected, but given what it did for Sinric, he's glad he didn't.

"She's very much missed", he says with a nod, then smiles at the description of the dress. "You must look beautiful in it."

[thewidewideworld]

"I take it your lord's new lady is not so well loved?" Sinric's glad too, even if it will take time and solitude to fully understand. He distracts himself with questions and playing with Athelstan's hair, twirling it around his fingers into little curls.

"The last time I wore it in the Emperor's presence, the Empress looked like she wanted to scratch my eyes out for it."