Eikons Made Them Do It

[featheredflames]

It's been days now since Joshua's been gripped by a terrible itch that can't be scratched. It sits just beneath his skin, unsettling, leaving him restless. It's as if every bit of him has been pricked and plucked, a fire of muted embers waiting to be re-lit. By the third day he had figured it was the Phoenix that was making him feel that way, that the bird within him was feeling caged. In a way it made sense; it had been sometime since he had fully primed or even semi-primed. The creature within wanted to unfurl and stretch its wings, quite literally.

But there was no opportunity nor reason to.

An accumulation of aether though, without any safe means to release it, wasn't exactly a healthy state to be in. Some evenings he felt feverish, too hot to sleep with sheets, let along a nightgown. During the day he felt sick to his stomach. Clive, of course, worried, as did the rest of those at his court. What was he to do though? All he could do was lie and reassure them that he was fine. That it would pass.

But he wasn't.

It wouldn't do Rosaria any good for its leader to be cagey and his mood was spreading to others despite his best attempt to keep his problems to himself. He could never keep away from Clive though. Not for long, nor did he want to. It's in his throne room one evening, past the time where all should be in bed, that Clive finds him pacing about. Bare feet walk over the cool stones of the floor deliberately before he comes to a stop, realizing that his brother is there, watching him. He must look a sight, hair messed and dressed in nothing but his linen nightgown, walking about like a phantom without a purpose.

"I'm fine." He speaks before Clive can question him, the nails of one hand scratching at his wrist. Clive doesn't seem convinced.

Comments

[will_o_wykes]

"Joshua?" Clive hadn't expected to find him in the dark throne room, dressed for sleep and clearly unable to find it. Joshua had been missing from both of their chambers and his office, so Clive assumed he would be in the library--not haggardly pacing the throne room. He steps forward without delay.

Clive has noticed his restlessness and anxiety, but Joshua has made no open mention of what ails him. Clive's heart lurches at what could be plaguing his brother, literal or not. His eyes have a feverish, glassy look to them. "Joshua," Clive murmurs. He catches Joshua's hands in his own. Scratching again, as he has for days. Joshua's skin is hot underneath Clive's bare hands. "Tell me, what's wrong, brother?"

[featheredflames]

Clive's hands are a reprieve on his skin and immediately he can feel the Phoenix within him reacting to his touch. It's pleased by the contact, wanting and craving more.

"I feel too hot." He eventually stutters out, taking a step closer to Clive, if only so he can rest his forehead against his shoulder. "I cannot say what has taken hold of me but...it is a relentless sort of restlessness. You needn't worry about me though. Surely whatever this is will pass.."

Or so he hopes. It's a bit pathetic to have the Archduke of Rosaria pacing around his throne room like a child who's suffered a night terror.

[will_o_wykes]

Clive draws Joshua closer to him and into an embrace, hands coming to rest on his back and waist. He's scorching hot, but Clive can feel no shiver or smell of sickness. He smells like Joshua, like rose soap and the the Phoenix's myrrh scent. The latter stronger than usual to him, even.

"This has gone on for days, Joshua," Clive says, quiet and soft. He can't resist the urge to pull Joshua closer, as he would when they were children. It feels like the past week like Joshua has shied away from his touch and he had missed this. Joshua's hair is feather-soft against his cheek. "You can't sit still and you can barely sleep. The physicker surely has a tonic for this..."

He knew that Joshua disliked his potions, but whatever summer blight had taken hold of him must have a solution. Otherwise... Clive entertained a brief thought of shutting Joshua up in his room until he recovered before dismissing it. No, Joshua wasn't a child anymore; he was Clive's Archduke. But he was never too old for Clive to fuss over his health.

[featheredflames]

Despite how intimidating a figure his brother could look, the kindness and compassion that oozed out of Clive was unmatched for Joshua. Drawn closer he can't help but feel the urge to cling, fingers curling in the front of his shirt. At mention of the physicker he shakes his head, immediately regretting the movement.

"No...they won't have anything. This is the Phoenix's fault. I am...almost certain of that. It's restless, Clive, but I do not know how to calm it. Being in contact with you though..."

Well, it seems to like that.

[will_o_wykes]

"It helps?" Clive instantly tightens his loose hold on Joshua. He's grown up so much, but he's always been able to fit perfectly into Clive's arms. Sometimes Clive wishes he could always keep him there. "You don't have to pretend otherwise, you know."

The Phoenix had passed him over so Clive could not claim to know what moved it and what did not. Joshua did not often speak of it as separate from himself in such a fashion. An idea comes to him, as disdainful as it is--for Joshua, anything.

"If it's the Phoenix, then the Undying might know." Clive can't keep the slight curl of distaste at the mention of their name.

[featheredflames]

It does help, for whatever reason, although he isn't thinking too deeply on what that reason might be. All Joshua knows is that Clive's touch brings relief from the pin prickling itch that sits beneath his skin. That, more than anything, is what's important.

At the suggestion he shakes his head, immediately regretting the action. It leaves him feeling dizzy as he swallows his discomfort. That too, would pass.

"No. They need not be involved. Just...stay with me?"

[will_o_wykes]

Clive rests his cheek against Joshua's feathery hair. Soft still, as soft as when they were children. Joshua's body is wound tight as a spring. And just like when they were children, all Clive could offer him was his staunch presence.

"Whatever you need," Clive says, as quiet and solemn as every oath he's made to Joshua before. His arm tightens around Joshua's waist. "My brother."

[featheredflames]

"Clive..." He leans against him, knees weak as his brother presses his head against his hair. Whatever he needs? But he isn't sure what that is.

"I don't know what I need...but I know that I need you."

[will_o_wykes]

"You have me." It has the weight of an oath, like when he knelt for Joshua's blessing, when he swore anew at Joshua's coronation. The throne is the only witness they have.

There is something Joshua is asking that Clive is not--is not ready to be--sure of yet. But whatever Joshua needs, it is already his. Clive will give it to him with the utmost joy. He clears his throat with a swallow. "Should we return to your chambers, Your Grace?"

[featheredflames]

"I...yes, let's." Returning to his chambers is probably a good idea, especially with how he's feeling. There is no reason to stay here pacing about the throne room when nothing productive is coming of it. With glassy eyes he peels himself back, ever so slightly, if only to wrap an arm around one of Clive's.

Part of him knows what he wants, especially when the Phoenix is shrieking inside him in response to Ifrit's aether...but it is forbidden. Taboo. Then again, did it really matter anymore?

[will_o_wykes]

Leading Joshua back to his room is something Clive has done a hundred times before, from childhood to gently chivvying his overworked younger brother to eat or sleep or take a tonic for his ailments. And yet, the air feels charged, simmering. Inside him, Ifrit stirs.

It should be terrible to think about Joshua this way, and yet, to do otherwise would to be something other than himself. He has always been Joshua's, his brother, his shield, his...

Clive closes that thought with a snap. He pushes open the heavy doors of the Archduke's outer chambers. "I won't abandon you, Joshua."

[featheredflames]

"I know you won't."

Stumbling into his room with Clive helping support him, he ends up set upon the edge of his mattress. His legs dangle off as he reaches to hold onto his brother's hands. Fingers squeeze calloused digits as he meets Clive's gaze. He feels as if he's going mad.

What is he even to ask of him? What can he reasonably demand?

"I just don't know Clive..." His voice is soft as he looks up at his brother. "It wants something of me. Of you."

man i am better off replacing some icons with diff versions of clive :pleading: LOL

[will_o_wykes]

Joshua wears the same sweetly pleading expression as when he's asked for anything he fears Clive might refuse. Clive interlaces their fingers and touches his forehead to Joshua's.

They have always been close, but since Joshua has flowered into a man there has been an unspeakable undercurrent. It is not Clive's decision to step into those deep dark waters. But does Joshua stand in the river asking Clive to join him, or is it an innocent request?

"Whatever the Phoenix wants," Clive says. His voice is husky and low. "Whatever you want. You only have to tell me."

wehhhh

[featheredflames]

He shouldn't. He really shouldn't do what he feels himself leaning forward to do, and yet the Phoenix compels, him, forcing his hand. Clive would surely forgive him, wouldn't he? He had forgiven him for any pass transgression before, even if this would be crossing a line he could never undo.

The trembling fingers that hold Clive's hand tugs him closer, as free fingers reach for his shirt. Down he pulls him until their faces are close and all Joshua needs to do is one final movement.

"Founder, forgive me Clive..."

The resolve within Joshua snaps as the Phoenix demands relief, his lips meeting Clive's in a desperate display of desire. At the contact he can feel the bird within utterly delighted in getting its way, a shudder running down his spine as he refuses to let his brother go.

Re: wehhhh

[will_o_wykes]

Clive eagerly allows Joshua to drag him down, close, until Clive can make out the flecks of green in his eyes--and the tension snaps. Joshua kisses him desperately and hard, grip tight around his hand. Clive clutches at him equally hungrily as Joshua's fingers fumble at the ties of his shirt. It doesn't feel wrong at all; it feels right and perfect and he suddenly cannot get enough of Joshua.

"Naught to forgive," he rasps, breath against Joshua's lips. The flicker of Ifrit's interest inside him has blazed into a wildfire, hungry, starving. If this was the same feeling as what Joshua experienced, pray, he was a stronger man than Clive for not buckling before now. "Is this what you need? What the Phoenix needs?"

Clive pulls at Joshua's dress. Flames, Clive had always adored the way Joshua looked in his scarlet finery but now he wants nothing more than to rip it off him.

[featheredflames]

It shouldn't feel so right and yet it does. Why, exactly, does it? Joshua couldn't even begin to theorize why, nor does he care. All that he cares about right now is the electrifying feeling of having Clive close and the feeling of his lips against his. He's forgiven, told that he doesn't need to be forgiven, and that's all Joshua needs to hear.

"Yes."

His answer comes quickly, light on his breath as he lifts himself so Clive can pull the garment off of him if he wishes to. It isn't as if there's much beneath the linen nightgown - just a pair of simple undergarments - but those too, Joshua thinks, ought to come off just as quickly.

"You've always been what I needed, Clive."

[will_o_wykes]

He knows, he knows, but to hear it from Joshua's lips as he allows Clive to yank is nightgown off sends a pulse of want through Clive's groin. He feels like he could be lost in a fantasy, but there is nothing dreamlike in seeing Joshua's hard cock tenting his smallclothes. "Flames above," he swears breathily.

Clive has seen Joshua undressed and dressed alike, but it is entirely different seeing him laid out, asking for Clive's touch, professing his desire. Clive rakes his eyes down from Joshua's flushed face to his slender breast heaving for air, his flat stomach, the faint trail of hair below his navel. He had touched Joshua so brazenly before, but now, despite Joshua's words, he feels like touching that perfect, pale flesh would overstep his bounds.

He lets his hands just brush Joshua's waist. The heat of him would burn Clive, if Clive weren't also burning. If Ifrit did not ache for the Phoenix as much as Clive did. "Command me, Your Grace," he rasps.

[featheredflames]

Touches have been shared between them in the past, of course, but they were always innocent ones. Seeing one another's bodies as well had never held the same sort of weight as it did now in this very moment. He can only thank the Founder that Clive sees him in the same light - it would be devastating if his brother had rejected him in earnest.

"Take me, Clive." The order is more of a plea as he reaches for the other man, palm settling on his cheek, thumb smoothing over the scar. "I want us to be entwined as one." They had before, as their eikons, been joined as one being, but that too was different from what Joshua was asking for now.

"I need you."

[will_o_wykes]

It's the last permission he needs. With a groan, Clive captures Joshua's mouth once more. How many times had he noticed Joshua's plump, pretty mouth and had to set the thought aside? Joshua's love was enough; it was wrong of him to crave Joshua's body for himself. But having him in his--in their bed with as much as Clive slept with him--is all that matters and still, it's not enough. Clive bites at Joshua's lip just to hear him gasp before swiping his tongue over it. He needs Joshua just as much as Joshua needs him. Himself, Ifrit, them together--he needs them to be as close as possible, as Joshua commanded.

The spark from Joshua has lit a fire in Clive and as much as he'd like to drink Joshua's body at his leisure like he deserved--he feels like he can't wait any longer. It is with effort that he pulls away from devouring Joshua's mouth to peel off his smallclothes, baring him fully and utterly.

"Joshua." It comes out as a moan. He's beautiful. Clive has seen Joshua clothed and nude alike, but never like this. A manhood perfectly proportionate between his legs, flushed and long. He wants the weight and heat of it on his tongue, to coax even more pretty sounds out of his brother. "You have me," he rasps. "You always have."

[featheredflames]

There is a ferocity within Clive that has always excited Joshua. It was controlled when it came to matters pertaining to him, of course, Clive was always even-tempered if his little brother was involved, but Joshua had experienced that fervor first hand on that fateful eve at Phoenix Gate. As much as it had terrified him and rightly so, he had now come to love that side of his brother as well; the flames that burned so hot within his brother's heart only served to fan those within his own.

Right now, that was even more apparent.

He's kissed with such passion, such heat, that he can't help but moan, desperate against Clive's body. Fingers reach to grasp, curl and cling but he's thwarted when his brother pulls away, only to rid him of the rest of the fabric clinging to his body.

Well. That was fair enough.

Hearing his name moaned in Clive's low, rough cadence is enough to sent him alight as he watches those beautiful blue eyes eat up every ilm of his form. Joshua is, as far as he's concerned about himself, not that impressive, but others would surely disagree. He's pretty and proportioned, slender and soft with enough strength to his muscles to ensure he's healthy looking, rather than a waif. Free to reach once more, Joshua's hands find Clive's broad shoulders, his desperation evident with the way his cock twitches between his legs already, with so little. He has always had his brother and Founder willing, always will.

"Will you take me then?" He sounds a bit pouty, like a child who is near begging for sweets before supper. "My dear brother...I want you in full. In every way imaginable."