carefully trained woman-monkey #1 (white_aster) wrote in areyougame, @ 2008-10-17 01:17:00 |
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Entry tags: | *tales of the abyss, author: white_aster |
Kneel, Tales of the Abyss (Peony/Jade)
Title: Kneel
Author: White Aster
Rating: R/NC-17
Warnings: None!
Word Count: 666 (hah!)
Prompt: Peony/Jade: aristocracy - allegiance
It started at a court function. One of the many reaffirmations of oaths to the emperor: all-too-frequent all-day affairs where Peony had to stand in heavy, uncomfortable clothes in a bright, hot room and allow an endless procession of people to kneel and profess their allegience.
Including military officers. Including a particular military officer who knew Peony too well and was too observant for his own good.
Peony couldn't claim that it wasn't entirely his fault, of course. He was rather sure that he gave Jade the idea. He did, after all, nearly fumble his traditional response the first time Jade (intelligent Jade, ruthless Jade, crazy and beautiful and powerful Jade) had knelt in front of him, head bowed like a man at prayer. Then Jade had looked up at him over his glasses, through his lashes, his lids at half mast, his eyes warm and altogether too familiar for the impersonal oath of fealty that was falling from his lips. Later, Peony would decide that that blatantly come-hither look had been deliberate, perhaps some ruse to brighten his otherwise boring day. At the time, however, it was distracting enough that he found himself watching Jade's lips move. Three heartbeats later they quirked and moved again, soundlessly, to prompt him for the imperial response that he had completely forgotten he was supposed to be giving.
Later, Jade had smirked and asked knowingly if His Imperial Highness had been quite well during the ceremony, as he'd seemed a bit...distracted.
Peony had thrown a pillow at him.
After that, it had become a game between them. The next time such a ceremony had come up, Jade had, rather than kissing his ring of office, LICKED him. Oh, just a bit, a quick dart of the tongue between Peony's fingers. Not visible enough to draw attention but more than enough to derail Peony's carefully laid plans to show up Jade and remember his proper response.
"Memory problems again?" Jade asked, later.
Peony scowled in what he hoped was an appropriately imperial fashion and pulled a sheaf of papers toward him. "You LICKED me, Jade."
Jade shrugged. "I've done worse. It's never tongue-tied you like THAT." He cocked his head, arms folding across his chest. "Is it the being in public?"
Peony rescued his pen from under Jade's hip. "No."
"Oh?" Peony winced. That was Jade's "oh my look at this shiny machine that I must take apart and see how it works" tone. "Hmm...well, there are only a limited number of differences in that situation as opposed to others, so...."
He should have seen it coming. He really should have. Somehow, thought, it was still a shock when Jade slid between Peony and his desk, sinking gracefully to his knees. "Is it this, then?"
Peony fumbled his pen, and it clattered to the desk, rolling off into the wastebasket.
Jade smirked, his eyes flickering down to the inevitable response that was no longer masked by Peony's robes of state. "I see."
Peony hissed as Jade stroked him through his pants, "Jade. You have no shame at all, do you?"
Jade cocked his head again, as leather-clad fingers, soft and supple and body-warm, drew Peony out. "...would you like me to?"
Peony's head fell back against his chair, but he couldn't help WATCHING. "...this...this is a trick question, isn't it?"
Jade's lips quirked, his breath ghosting across Peony's bared skin as his thumb traced a careful circle, devastating as any spell. "Yes, Your Highness."
A few moments later, Jade's aide paused outside the door to the Imperial office, hand raised to knock. After a moment (during which she heard a rhythmic squeaking of leather, a chuckle, and a moan), she sighed silently, shifted the papers in her arms, and took up a post a bit down the hall, where she shared a long-suffering look with the Imperial Secretary as she started her wait.