Coronation

[featheredflames]

It is all far too much attention for Joshua's liking.

He knew this was how it would be, that there would be a certain amount of fussing the be expected...but this was beyond the scope of acceptable fussing surely. So much unnecessary commotion over a fitting of ceremonial robes that he wouldn't wear more than a handful of times at that... Would it not be better to spend time focusing on the clothing he would be draped in when he finally dawned his father's mantle? The day-to-day wear that he would need to sport as Archduke of Rosaria.

That would come later, in time, he had been reassured. This outfit would get at least a few days of wear out of it. The ceremony was to last more than a singular evening, festivities dragging on for nearly a week after the event of the coronation itself. Already Joshua feels weary at the thought. Fancy suppers and meeting with dignitaries were in his future but right now his present reality was a miserable one. Fabric is cinched around his waist as measurements are taken and pins are adjusted. He feels like a doll as he's fitted, made to stand for bells on end. Founder he could only hope that some semblance of reprieve would find him soon, hopefully before his knees gave out...

Swallowing he stares out the window, doing his best not to move as the tailors do their work as quickly as they can. It would be unfair if he told them to stop - they were only doing as they had been instructed to, to rework and refit the robes his father wore on his crowning day. Joshua cannot help but think they don't suit him - Clive would wear (and fit!) them far better than he. Yet it was tradition...and while he may be able to escape the tailors ere long, there was no escaping protocol and the duty that loomed over him.

Comments

[featheredflames]

The celebration passes by in a blur of people, well wishes, and polite greetings he has rehearsed for years. With every new couple or individual that comes to him he finds himself praying for the line of guests to end. Eventually it does, and he is eternally grateful when Clive steps back to his side, offered glass of wine taken without hesitation.

He takes a sip, shoulders slouching ever so slightly with a sigh.

"That would be putting it politely." Not that he means to speak ill of his guests or his people - that is not the case at all. He is just simply...tired. "I did not realize how draining such an amount of focused socialization would be. I am happy to receive everyone's blessings...to know they have put their faith in me...but I do need a moment of my own."

It could not come fast enough. At least he has tonight to look forward to.

[flamebrand]

Celebrations come with expectation. Everyone present in the room now extend their warmest regards to their young Archduke, but they'll be jockeying for more than just attention once the festivities end and the thrill of the coronation subsides. Clive watches the nobles all mill about, some faces familiar and welcome and some not quite so, and then casts his attention to a section of the hall where a gaggle of men and women are dancing to improvised music.

"Everyone will be too deep in their cups soon to risk speaking to you," he chuckles. "You'll be able to retire soon enough."

That's when the real debauchery will take place, both on the castle grounds and also in the privacy of Joshua's bedroom. After making sure that no one is within earshot, Clive whispers: "I've wanted you all night."

[featheredflames]

He can only hope that to be the case - that those around him will feel he is far too untouchable, let alone approachable, to bother further for the rest of the evening.

But speaking of touching...

An immediate shiver creeps its way down Joshua's spine as Clive whispers words of wanting against his ear. It is a sentiment he can eagerly return, or would, if he could be free with the way he would like to return it.

"And I you..." he mutters under his breath, raising the glass' rim to his lips for another sip. "You cannot begin to imagine the fantasies I have entertained all day."

[flamebrand]

A light puff of breath, amused.

"All day? You've been busy."

As if that claim doesn't interest him immensely (it does). The way Clive looks at Joshua momentarily hearkens to all the nights they've spent together after their first one, a flash of untamed hunger that turns ocean-blue eyes just on the side of stormy. For a moment, it's obvious that Clive is undressing Joshua in his mind.

"Will you tell me about them later?"

[featheredflames]

Yes he has been busy, Clive. The cheeky look his brother shows him has his face ruddy further as another sip of wine is taken. Will he tell Clive about his fantasies later? What a question...

"Of course," he mutters under his breath, taking a step closer to him to bump their shoulders together. "So long as you are willing to fulfil them."

[flamebrand]

The party guests are too busy with their revelry to notice how Clive momentarily brushes his fingers against Joshua's, and how he gently knocks their elbows together. Their pinkies twine together for a lingering second, like a secret traded, before Clive tears himself (unwillingly) away from Joshua's side.

Not without a quiet "every single one" murmured against Joshua's ear, though. Tonight is entirely for Joshua, in every way that it can be.

[featheredflames]

Oh how badly he wants to bury his face in his brother's chest right now...how desperately he wants to reach back and hold his hand and squeeze his fingers tight between his own. It's the sort of security he wants right now but he has to be patient and proper. Just another bell or two and he can slip away and retire while everyone else continues their merrymaking. He doubts even their mother would put up a fuss of him going to bed early.

"I look forward to it...immensely ."

[flamebrand]

Joshua is resplendent in his new clothes, but Clive can only think of how much he'd like to take them off. Carefully, of course― he wouldn't begin to know how to explain how the new Archduke's robes were torn― but he thinks of all that beautiful skin under those layers, and has to flex his fingers against his palm to vent his need.

"I'll retire to your room first."

No one will find it suspicious. It's the Lord Commander doing his due diligence and making sure that assassins aren't in the halls, or whatever else he can say to justify his early absence. Clive has never been one to linger in festivities anyway, preferring his space and quiet to raucous celebration, and so no one will question him choosing duty over dancing.

One last nudge, and he turns on his heels. A few noblewomen try to court his attention― "Lord Marquess, leaving us so soon?"― but he politely evades them.

[featheredflames]

Clive dismisses himself first, and oh how lucky his older brother is to do so. There is still a bit of merrymaking Joshua is obligated to indulge in, and now without Clive around it is a bit more taxing to do so. Still, at the end of it all, he manages to finally leave, telling Sir Rodney of his plan and bidding those who still have their wits about them a good eve. Bless, for once, the reputation of his constitution, as everyone who listens agrees that he ought to rest and get a full night of sleep.

Hah. As if he would be sleeping much at all. Not when the promise of being fucked silly was there lingering over his head.

He practically runs back to his quarters, knocking only twice before letting himself in. There is no need to bathe either, as he's been scrubbed so squeaky clean earlier in the day that he's anything but unpleasant. No, there should be little in the way to stop Clive from descending upon him and giving him exactly what he's been waiting for.

"Clive?"

He closes the door behind him, resting against it with a sigh.

"I have escaped them all."

[flamebrand]

By the time Joshua steps into his room－ now practically a shared bedroom, considering how Clive has been occupying it every night for the past few nights－ Clive has shed most of his decorative layers and has stripped himself down to a form-fitting dress shirt and his leather trousers. Noticeably ready to drag Joshua to bed, though he doesn't immediately fling the young Archduke onto their fluffed pillows and soft mattress; instead, he crowds Joshua against the door when it closes behind him, and tips his brother's chin to press an indulgent kiss against that sighing mouth.

Once their lips part, it's his turn to huff a warm exhale.

"Founder, I thought they'd keep you the entire night."

[featheredflames]

Clive descends upon him and immediately he's groaning against his brother's hot, inviting mouth. The kiss, unfortunately, doesn't last for as long as he wishes it would, but hearing his brother's husk coated voice sparks desire deep in his belly, flames already hot and rising.

"So did I... thank the Founder that I am free from their balking and stares."

The only one he wants looking at him for the rest of the night is Clive.

[flamebrand]

"They can't be blamed for staring," he laughs, guiding Joshua to bed with an arm looped around his waist. Touching and tracing over all those layers, red and gold and black. "You're breathtaking."

The most beautiful thing Clive has ever seen, from the moment he was born until now. Another long, claiming kiss, and he coaxes Joshua to settle before his eager hands can get to work unwrapping him properly.

"Founder, it was agonizing to wait." A beat. "Do you wish our hands bound now or later?"

[featheredflames]

He flushes at the compliment, nose scrunching up as he does his best to push away the embarrassment he feels. He is not breathtaking, not in the slightest, but to protest would delay Clive's mouth and hands further when they are already on a trajectory towards his bed. Up he goes, settled onto his back, propped up with his elbows as Clive continues to tease.

He needs out of these pretty and stifling garments immediately.

"Later." That's easy enough to answer. "I want to be able to touch you back first."

[flamebrand]

A soft sigh of acknowledgment, and Clive gets to work on ridding Joshua of his soft silks and sashes and what-have-you-s. Scarlet fabric lined with gold, coal-black thread weaving patterns over well-ironed panels. Clive takes care not to ruin any of it, and eventually gets up to set the most extravagant of the layers in a neat pile on a nearby armchair.

As he returns, he notes how Joshua looks in his remaining clothes. A long, flowing gownlike one-piece in white. The mattress sinks under his weight when he rides back up onto it, and Clive smiles as he crowds his brother once more.

"This reminds me of the clothes you used to wear."

Joshua really was such a darling child. Sweet and good-natured as sin.

[featheredflames]

Each piece of finery is peeled away as if Clive is unwrapping a present, but with far more care than he imagines he need show. Still, Joshua cannot help but love how tender his brother is with him, even now at the age they're at. The white, frilly frock he's worn beneath everything else does harken back to the outfits their mother used to dress him in. Sometimes he found her choices a bit too feminine...but he could not argue that she didn't have an eye for fashion.

Everyone under her control was dressed well, regardless of how she felt about them, for better or worse.

"I suppose it does bear a resemblance...you can thank Mother for that."

[flamebrand]

No invoking Mother in bed, Clive thinks to shoot back, but saying so would also be invoking her. His relationship with Annabella has remained complicated at best, but it's not what he wants to think about while he has Joshua under him in nothing but his thinnest layers and his pretty jewelry still affixed to his wrists, around his neck, keeping the longest strands of his hair in place.

Founder, Joshua is stunning. Clive doesn't know where to begin to touch him, but he starts with another kiss and teasing fingers lifting the hem of that pristine-white gown.

"I'd look ridiculous in robes and lace, but you look striking."

Tracing along Joshua's bare thigh under the light fabric, Clive hums his appreciation under his breath.

[featheredflames]

He is a pretty little thing, Rosaria's most prized jewel turned flesh and blood. Men and women alike would die gladly for the opportunity to touch him, let alone share a bed with the Phoenix. Unfortunately for them all, none would ever get the chance to. That honour was reserved for Clive and Clive alone.

"Striking," he mutters, reaching up to brush a wayward strand of gold out of his eyes, licking his lips as he tastes the remnants of the kiss. "I feel a bit ridiculous...but if you enjoy how I look I'd drape myself in lace for you every eve without nary a second thought."

[flamebrand]

A light huff, at that.

"I'd like my wife to dress however he wishes."

Though he would look fetching in something thin and flowing. Scarlet fabric tailored to Joshua's lovely form, perhaps. Clive doesn't have much of an imagination (nothing will ever surpass the real deal), and he doesn't have enough knowledge of what passes for scandalous attire to dress Joshua in them for his mind's eye.

The white robe he's currently rucking up is good enough for now. It hikes up over Joshua's navel, leaving room for Clive to slide under it to litter bare skin with kisses.

[featheredflames]

Wife. There is that word again, potent as ever in Joshua's ears as his breath hitches in his throat. Clive would like him to dress however he wishes to but in what reality was that possible? His whole life from now on would be just as planned as it had been since birth, much like his wardrobe. Still, the fantasy is there and more than anything he would like to know what Clive would prefer.

"I would like to dress in a way that is pleasing to your eye."

The kisses tickle and he squirms despite himself, unable to keep his fingers from Clive's shaggy mop he had managed to tame earlier with oil and a brush.

[flamebrand]

Clive's hair has remained styled, the product holding his soft, unruly strands mostly in place for the duration of the night. He's resigned to it being ruined by the end of this, though Clive is hardly concerned about the state of his own appearance. Far too distracted by Joshua, who is wearing nothing under this thin robe; the sight of his sweetly peaked nipples is enough for Clive's blood to go straight to his cock.

He kisses one, for good measure.

"You're always pleasing to the eye." Joshua could be covered in Rosarian bogwater and Clive would still find him endearing. "But if I had to say..."

One hand grips along Joshua's waist, then slides down along his hip.

"Something like what you're wearing now. Easy to remove, but also easy to touch you even when you have it on."

[featheredflames]

The kiss to his nipple through the fabric of his frock has him huff out a laugh, cheeks ruddy as he wriggles slightly beneath his brother. Pleasing to the eye...oh Clive really was such a flatterer.

A firm hand grips his waist and has him gasping, only for it to trail down further toward his hip. To think Clive would soon be grasping both and fucking into him with abandon...

"I should ask for a new nightgown then. One to be worn on...such occasions."

[flamebrand]

The wiggling is endearing enough that it makes Clive want to pin his brother's hands to the mattress just to watch him squirm, but he keeps that surprising impulse to himself (Joshua awakens something inside him every night, it feels like). The hand traveling down remains slipped under Joshua's thin final layer, and Clive feels between those pretty legs for signs of interest, and then lower still to see if the fingering from the night prior has kept his brother pliant.

"Is that something you thought about during the festivities?" Joshua had mentioned having lurid fantasies, and Clive brings it up now as his own impatience bumps up against his wall of sanity. "Being dressed enticingly for me?"

His sweet bird. Another of many kisses Clive will press to Joshua's mouth, and he tastes him with lips and tongue.

"Founder, you do something unspeakable to me."

[featheredflames]

Oh but there is no reason at all to resist his brother's advances. Not when he has been so desperately yearning for this ever since they decided to kiss and toy with one another in the stables. Every evening prior has been leading up to this and he will be damned if he is made wait too long. Still, Clive has a penchant for teasing, and Joshua knows that if he is allowed to, he will drag this out as much as he can just to see Joshua squirm.

"I did think about it..." An admission of guilt? No, it's desire, plain as can be. He groans as he's kissed and Clive slips a hand between his thighs, feeling his entrance and the stiffening of his cock in turn. He has never been more interested.

"And you drive me mental. Do not make me wait too long...please."

[flamebrand]

They've been dragging this out for days now, and maybe Joshua deserves, now, to feel the effect it's had on Clive. Carefully, he layers his body on top of Joshua so that the outline of his cock is pressed up along Joshua's thigh, already at full mast just from a few minutes of kissing and touching.

Maybe it's a little intimidating, the heat and weight of it. But Joshua says that he doesn't want to wait, and so Clive's tone takes on a bit of a challenging lilt, the kind he sometimes channels mid-spar on the bailey.

"I suppose I've prepared you enough."

His digits were inside Joshua only a few hours ago, after all.

"I'd have my wife tell me what he wants, so that I could grant him all he needs."

[featheredflames]

The hot, heavy weight of Clive's cock against his thigh has Joshua's breath hitching in his throat, body trembling with anticipation. This is what he wanted, what he has been waiting for and had denied himself till now. Now, he could have Clive. Now, he could be rewarded for his patience. His brother would fuck up into him and take him without a ilm of mercy.

Now he only need find the words and his voice to tell Clive as much.

"We have been wed but have yet to consummate our marriage till now." He shifts slightly beneath his brother, parting his knees ever so slightly in invitation. "I want you inside me so deeply that by the end of our coupling there will be no doubt in anyone's mind that I will be with child before the leaves begin to turn."