rhy maresh (goldenhelm) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2018-08-22 19:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log/thread, alucard emery, rhy maresh |
WHO: Rhy & Alucard
WHAT: Rhy gives Alucard a special birthday present (not as dirty as it sounds), & they talk about the future.
WHEN: August 7th, evening (backdated)
WHERE: Their bedroom
WARNINGS: Feels? And a suggestive fade to black. Otherwise nah.
Rhy had never gotten to celebrate Alucard’s birthday before, so it was possible he’d gone a little overboard this time. In the morning, he’d had flowers delivered, quite a lot of them. Most of them then ended up in vases out on the balcony, where he’d set up a lunch for Alucard’s friends, Arnesian food, which he had cooked himself. There was music and wine, a magical cake with candles that he’d lit with his own magic (which was very unimpressive compared to the magic of the ship floating atop the cake, but that made it strangely easier on his nerves to do magic in front of a crowd), and a pile of presents, the majority of which had been from Rhy -- he just hadn’t been able to help himself. He had collected books and wine, a few items of clothing and accessories, and a ship in a bottle that looked very much like The Night Spire.
But there was one gift in particular that had special sentimental value, for all that it was small, and he hadn’t put that on the pile, instead keeping it in his pocket for later, after everyone had gone. He had purposefully planned the party for lunchtime so that they could have dinner by themselves in their rooms, also Arnesian, also cooked by him.
He sat close to Alucard as they ate, and as the actual eating started to slow, he said, “I have one last gift for you.”
He proffered a small but ornately gilded wooden box, unwrapped. Inside was a ring with the official seal of the crown of Arnes, which he’d taken to a jeweler to have an inscription added: King Alucard Maresh.
--
The whole day had been thoroughly overwhelming. During the quieter moments, when there was a time or to just to himself, Alucard had pinched himself and done a few other checks that he was not dreaming. But then, that would have meant he had imagined such a celebration for himself. Alucard was not shy about celebrations, but there had been more done in one day than in the totality of his life before then. Even his mother, who had been sure to provide them with presents and a sweet, had never done so much when he was little.
So he had simply blinked, at first, at Rhy’s words. There had already been so many gifts, some of them visible around the room. This one was smaller than most, and Alucard held the box gently. His eyes ran over the shapes and patterns carved into it. The box alone would have made a fine gift. Anticipation radiated from Rhy, so Alucard opened it soon after that.
The seal for the Maresh house in a ring. It would mean little to most people here, but and even back in Arnes such a ring could be taken as a sign of service to the crown, a position of some trust and importance. But! - his heart beat a little faster - Alucard did not expect Rhy to intend something that way. Indeed, the way he had presented the gift belied that idea. He turned the ring between his fingers, which was when he felt the inscription.
Whatever Alucard had thought Rhy’s intentions were with the ring, the inscription made clear just how committed Rhy was toward their relationship, especially back home where more stood in their way. It was hard to weigh which hit him harder in the heart - king or Maresh. The first mattered only so long as they were in Arnes; it mattered because it legitimized their relationship in a way that could not be ignored, misinterpreted, or otherwise lessened in the eyes of the court. Alucard had never held his father’s ambitions toward being king. That… that was why Maresh landed so closely. Alucard still felt the absence of the silver ring he had thrown away at his brother’s attempt to seize comradery between them. Emery was his name, and he’d had to use it here often, due to the vampire sharing his given name.
Slowly, Alucard slid the ring onto the finger the Emery ring had lived for so long. The seal stood stark against the years of memory. And the smile on his face just would not go away. He reached across the small table, to take Rhy’s hand in his. “It has been an overwhelmingly incredible birthday, Rhy,” Alucard said, “And this… crowns the whole day.” It was hard to find words for how touching it had been, for Rhy to have cooked lunch for a whole group of people and dinner for the two of them, to watch Rhy use his magic in public, even if most people had not realized its significance, to be welcomed here as he would be back home.
“I… love you, Rhy,” Alucard said that statement softly, as though discovering it again anew. The words were right, but there was more meaning behind them, the depth of their relationship. Not simply that they loved each other now but that they would always love each other. They were a part of who each other were. Alucard would never be who he was today without Rhy. And he was a better, happier man for it.
--
“It was my first chance to celebrate your birthday,” Rhy answered with a smile. He was enormously glad that Alucard had enjoyed his birthday party, that all the details he had so carefully planned had gone well, that they’d had the effect he intended. “I wanted to set the standard.”
As for the final present, there was indeed an enormous amount of anticipation in waiting for Alucard to open it, some of it unnecessarily nervous. Rhy was fairly certain he would like it -- love it, even -- but it was a very forward gift, and there was the possibility that he might have overstepped his bounds. He felt his nerves dissipate as he watched Alucard’s face, watched him slide the ring onto his finger. His smile grew in response, and he took Alucard’s hand in return, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“I love you so very much,” he said, his tone almost as quiet as Alucard’s. “And I am certain that, at home, I will choose to offer you everything that ring represents. I hope it wasn’t too presumptuous to offer you my name as well as the crown.” It could be changed, but from Alucard’s reaction, he didn’t think that was something that needed to be offered. “Or at least, that it was the good kind of presumptuous.”
--
Their timing had never permitted much in the way of birthday celebrations. Alucard had attended Rhy’s before they knew each other, before it would have meant anything. And the rest, well, simply had not been possible. That… despite Alucard having been in London during Rhy’s last birthday. He had come on a technicality of his banishment and had not pressed the matter. Such thought did not ruin the mood or what Rhy had done. “The standard?” Alucard raised an eyebrow. As something that had not happened before, as a celebration that made up for three years apart, it had made sense. He had not expected it would happen again.
Perhaps, with such a standard and given what Rhy’s birthdays had been like in Arnes, Alucard would do well to start planning for the occasion now. He would have to think on it another night.
“It was good,” Alucard said, simply, at first. He knew how and why it resonated with him, that first reaction to seeing Rhy’s name following his own. There was so much to it, so much said in so few words. “As much as it was possible, I had disowned my family name after everything that happened,” he continued. It had been a private moment, between him and his brother. Not something that could follow him to court. The ring had not come with him, but Alucard supposed he and Rhy had not discussed its absence.
“It welcomes me into your family, recognizes me as part of it,” Alucard smiled. He found the way Rhy used the name quite enchanting. Where it had already been given, to Kell, Rhy gave that relationship the full standing it afforded, emotionally and publicly. And where he gave it, now, it would have as strong of purpose and meaning. And when he would give it again, in Arnes, when they adopted an heir, Rhy would do so a third time. “It was a good enough name for your mother, for all your family’s spouses,” Alucard could not forget his relation to Elmira and the name she had once carried, “It is worthwhile to me to take it as well, to show we are one, united, and strong.” He smiled. There were so many feelings over something so simple, that felt so right.
“We had not discussed it,” Alucard acknowledged. Rhy had only recently spoken about his decision, with all its implications, for their life back in Arnes. “But I am sure you felt it.” And on that, Rhy had been right.
--
“Oh, come now,” Rhy said, amused, his honey-gold eyes glinting with mischief. “You can’t expect me to pass up a chance to celebrate you every year.” His love for parties and celebrations was well known throughout the kingdom. Long before Alucard had ever known him personally, he would have known that.
He had indeed noticed the absence of the Emery ring, though he was unsurprised by it. He had noticed the tension, too, in Alucard’s body whenever his last name was used. Rhy would have offered him the Maresh name anyway -- it was the name that went with the crown’s legacy, after all -- but if Alucard wanted to part with the Emery name, it was all the more reason to offer it to him. “You are,” he said easily, though not without emotion, “More than deserving of the Maresh name, and it is yours to keep. I love the way it sounds.”
He ran his thumb over the back of Alucard’s knuckles. “If I may be presumptuous again… now that I am certain of our future at home, I thought perhaps you might want to talk about whatever future we have here, whether it be another month, or a year, or… longer.”
--
Alucard shook his head lightly, the warm light reflecting off the jewels in his hair. Though they had been sapphire at lunch, he had exchanged them for garnets before dinner. Not quite rubies. But then, Alucard had not been so presumptuous. Rhy’s glee at celebrations, the pleasure he took in planning things, was well known and readily apparent even then. Alucard’s surprise said more of his own thoughtlessness toward his birthday than an assessment of Rhy. “No, I would not deny you that,” Alucard agreed, “nor how much fun you make them.” He ignored the undercurrent of feeling that a birthday was nothing worth celebrating. Alucard knew that sentiment did not originate with him.
Much came in shouldering a name. Maresh came with responsibilities and expectations. Indeed, Alucard mused, it was quite possible that this birthday affair would be considered absolutely demure back in Arnes. He had no strong memories of any celebrations for the queen’s birthday. But she was far shyer than Alucard was. He was awfully fond of parties and balls, of celebrations and good cheer. Even though his clothes had been improvised on short notice. Nothing of the proper design as went into something for a ball.
His eyes stayed a few moments on Rhy’s fingers, on the shape of his thumb and its proximity to Alucard’s many rings. But Alucard lifted his gaze and held Rhy’s eye contact. The issue had not been raised in the months they had been here, not between them. There had been enough that they were dealing with. “I have thought about it,” Alucard admitted. He had thought of what their lives could be like, if they were there another month or a year or longer. “No matter where we go, no matter how long we stay, I want a future with you. I want it to be ours. No one knows how long they have, whenever they plan for the future, and this place is no exception. It simply has possibilities we had not considered.”
Alucard paused. His heart thundered in his chest, no less anxious for the private meeting they had in Rhy’s room, in their room, than the nerves that had beset him coming before the crown. “I want to be yours and for you to be mine, so long as we are together.” He had imagined it since they came to this town, where, for all its faults, they could legally marry. Here, it was something much more between simply the two of them; Alucard wanted it no less.
--
Rhy could not have looked away even if he’d wanted to, which he didn’t. He didn’t hold the eye contact the entire time, though; his gaze flickered over Alucard’s face, down to his mouth, the line of his jaw. Saints, he was beautiful; Rhy wanted him in so many different ways, some innocent, and some very much not.
“I’ve thought about it, too,” he said. “Not very seriously, until recently. Not because it wasn’t something I wanted, but because I was avoiding the thought of being here for any real length of time.” Alucard already knew the reason for that, and knew it had nothing to do with him, so Rhy didn’t elaborate. “But the thought of a future here scares me a lot less when I imagine you here with me.”
He lifted Alucard’s hand to his lips and kissed it, briefly. “For as long as our stay here is uncertain, and we still might disappear at any moment, I don’t think I want to consider a child. And obviously I have no crown to offer you. But I am ready for everything, and anything else.”
--
Alucard gave a small nod, recognition of Rhy’s new perspective to the matter. His mind had not been able to help but turn over the possibilities, imagining the worst and best possible options. Some elements were in their control. Others were not. But here, living on land where they both had jobs and the closer semblance to what might be expected in a life, if not the ones they had back home, it was ever more in his thoughts late at night.
“The only context in which I have thought we could consider a child here, in these uncertain conditions, would be one who arrived through the portal in need of guardians,” Alucard mentioned. He had not terribly rushed, in thought or emotion, to be a guardian to any of those near fully grown who had little interest in more than someone to fulfill the legal requirement. He and Rhy needed conversations first, ones like these. Even then, he had not felt a need to take responsibility for just any child that came along. “But even that, we do not have to do.” There was no need to rush Rhy, who had only just started thinking along these lines. It was simply… worth giving proper consideration. Any child, brought that way, would have as uncertain a future as they did.
He squeezed Rhy’s hand in support. “You are the one I worked so hard to get back to, your crown only in so much as it was a part of you. I am as ready and desirous of you, of everything with you, as I was back home.” His intentions had not changed with their circumstances.
--
They would, of course, take Anisa in if she were to arrive. But since Alucard did not mention her name, neither did Rhy. He didn’t want to put a damper on Alucard’s current mood, although he knew that Anisa was no doubt present in Alucard’s thoughts regardless.
“I would certainly consider being a guardian, if the opportunity presented itself,” he agreed. He smiled at Alucard, his eyes glinting with mischief again. “So… should I take that to mean that if at some point soon, but not right in this moment -- only because it is your birthday, and I don’t want one to overshadow the other -- I were to propose, you would say yes?”
He already knew the answer. But he wanted Alucard to know the answer, too, to the unasked question that had been between them for so long. It was one thing to say he was ready, another to act on it, and he had been thinking already about how to do it, and had a few ideas. But as much as he wanted to make the gesture, he didn’t want to assume that Alucard was ready for it, too. Even though he had strongly suspected the answer was yes.
--
There was no need, that night, to discuss potential guardianship. The most obvious case required little, to no, discussion. Nothing could stop it in the world. The rest would depend on who it was, their circumstance, and how well Alucard and Rhy fit into it. A terrible longing struck Alucard’s heart, but he turned away from the feeling and instead focused on that glint in Rhy’s eye, one terribly exciting if uncertain in what shape it would unfold itself.
Since his return, Alucard had been most forward with his intentions. Indeed, he had thought his last words had made his intentions, and wishes, most clear. Still, Rhy pressed against the boundary of a proposal. It was not one, oh it most certainly was not, else the question would have come before or with the ring. And for all its potent symbolism, Alucard expected Rhy could do better than that one for a proper proposal. Nothing against the ring Rhy had given him; Alucard would not be parted with it.
He leaned across the table, at an angle that avoided the taller objects such as his wine glass, so as to be that much closer to Rhy. His eyes peered directly at Rhy’s, holding his lover’s attention. “Yes,” Alucard replied. “I would say yes, love.” His smile broke the seriousness of his face just then. “I would marry you anywhere,” he said lightly, though wholly serious.
Then he leaned back just a little. “I do know you,” Alucard noted, “so I expect your best.” If today were anything to go by, that would not be a terribly great challenge.
--
Rhy absolutely could, and would, do better. He wanted to have this conversation, but at the same time, a conversation would not suffice for a proposal, here or in Arnes. All the same, his heart skipped and then pounded in his chest when Alucard said yes, and his blood warmed along with it.
And then a wide grin broke out over his face, and he laughed. “Oh, you will have the best this world has to offer,” he assured his lover -- his almost-fiance, his future husband. “For you, I would never do anything less.”
He got to his feet and moved to Alucard’s side, still holding his hand. With his free hand, he pressed his fingertips under Alucard’s chin and tipped his head back in order to lean down and kiss him properly, as he’d been longing to do. He’d planned on saying something else, something witty about going to bed to collect the rest of his birthday presents, but he found that he really didn’t want to break the kiss once it had started.
--
Unlike Arnes, Alucard was not wholly certain what the best this world had to offer. The image in his mind lacked a great deal of clarity, focused instead on Rhy - certainly dressed well, red playing a prominent role - and the two of them somewhere, somewhere greener or bluer than their current surroundings offered. Instead, he thought of somewhere more Arnesian, though likely not London itself. Its disparities with their own would only mar the moment.
That day was somewhere in the near future, the details of greater concern to Rhy. Alucard would see it and lock that memory firmly to recall time and again, so long as they were here, so long as they could remember. There was both happiness and melancholy in the thought that they would not always be here, would not always remember.
His smile was all the response Alucard gave before dinner was absolutely over. His head turned to complement Rhy standing over him. Plenty of temptations suggested themselves, and the flutter of his heart held no nerves, only anticipation. The reason Alucard had consumed only modest amounts of wine over the day had not only been to remember it more clearly after the fact. Alucard kissed Rhy back, his body turning toward Rhy’s. His free hand set itself against Rhy’s torso and ghosted gently up Rhy’s chest.
He let the kiss continue some time before he rose out of his chair - had briefly considered not rising but sinking - so the angle of the kiss, their bad posture, did not overwhelm it. Alucard stole breath where he could and made a few sounds of encouragement with the kiss. The whole day had been a celebration. They could take a good portion of the night.