Nicaise

Since Nicaise's arrival to Darrow and subsequent residence within Laurent's terrace, time spent alone with Laurent had become something of a luxury and it was one Damen did not take lightly. Particularly since that fateful afternoon in which the boy had come across the mad man off the street and Laurent had grown ever more protective.

There had been some easing in the rules once Nicaise had agreed to let Damen teach him out to defend himself, but even so their time together was fleeting.

And so, as soon as Nicaise had left the building, ostensibly to procure coffees, Damen had taken full advantage, dragging Laurent back to the bedroom and promptly peeling him out of half his clothes. He was not certain how much time had passed, only that he hadn't nearly gotten his fill when he heard the door open once again and Nicaise call out.

With a sigh, Damen removed his mouth from Laurent's softening length, his own cock still hard in his trousers where he sat knelt upon the floor. 'We could not have sent him on further errands?' he asked, a pleading, soft grumble.

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'I did ask for pour over,' said Laurent, lying on his back with his arm over his eyes as his breaths continued to thunder in his breast. They had succeeded in only part of their gambit - namely, that Damen could drive him to screaming climax in the time it took to retrieve a coffee, but there was no time for Laurent to do the same.

'They take twice as long.' He sat up, carding his hands through Damen's curls. The poor man looked every bit as agitated as before, pink cheeked with lust and mouth slick, but there was little Laurent could do about that now. 'I will make it up to you,' he promised. 'Tonight.' Then, 'We'll be out in a moment!'

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"Take your time!" Nicaise called, his tone dry and his expression a grimace. They were alone in the bedroom which more than likely meant one thing, a thing he would really rather not think about. Instead he set the cup carrier down on the kitchen counter and brought his own frozen drink to the couch to turn the television on and up in case they weren't finished. He scooped Toulouse up to sit next to him.

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Twice as long was not was still not even half as much time as Damen preferred to get his fill of Laurent, but the promise of later would have to be enough to satisfy him for the moment.

With another sigh, he sat back, turning his head enough to press a kiss to the center of Laurent's palm before he pushed himself to his feet. His arousal was still clearly obvious and he pressed a hand to himself, willing it down as well as he could before he gave a nod over his shoulder toward to the other room.

'You go on,' he said, grinning a little at the flush that still clung to Laurent's skin and the haphazard lay of his hair. 'No doubt he'll know what we've been up to, but I'd still rather not give him yet more ammunition for awhile. I can meet you once I've had a moment to cool down.'

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He knew it would not help Damen's excitement, but Damen made such an appealing picture that Laurent couldn't resist lifting onto his toes to kiss him. 'My shower is very cold,' he murmured, placing a last kiss to Damen's cheek before he stepped back to gather his hair into some semblance of order.

Nicaise, no doubt, already knew precisely what they'd been up to, but Laurent still paused to arrange his clothes and to dab the sweat from his face before he exited his room and headed for the parlor. In truth a glass of cold water held far more appeal than a coffee, but he took the cup and sipped at it all the same.

'No need to split your eardrums,' he remarked for the television's volume. 'We're quite finished.'

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"I don't want to take any chances, my therapist says I've already been exposed to too many wicked things," Nicaise answered with his eyes still on the television, his mouth curled in an amused smirk. His therapist hadn't actually said that, but she might as well have. She'd used a lot of professional, careful wording to assure him that the things he'd experienced weren't his fault and that he shouldn't have been exposed to them. He was even supposed to journal about it.

Nicaise turned the volume down, took a sip from his neon orange straw, and looked up at Laurent when he realized Damen hadn't joined him.

"Have you killed him? Is the power of your cock that strong?" he teased, looking toward the bedroom.

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Laurent considered, seating himself on the chaise a cushion away from Nicaise and his odd, frozen drink. 'Did she?' he said at length. He would not have guessed that sexual intimacy would be among her ideas of 'wicked thing', not when expressed between two consenting adults. He would have to submit to the thing he had been dreading and visit this woman himself. If there were other guidelines, he ought to know them.

'You'll be distressed to know he's quite alive,' he said, taking another measured sip. 'Or pretend to be. I know you've been spending more time together.'

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"Not really," Nicaise said in an attempt to brush the subject aside. He didn't actually want to talk about it. He didn't even prefer to talk to his therapist in the first place, but he knew if he didn't they might hospitalize him, or worse. When Nicaise had told the therapist about the Regent, and about the arena, and the general lifestyle at Vere's court, she had said he'd been desensitized and hadn't been able to properly process what he was experiencing, and a whole load of other drivel he couldn't be bothered to care about.

"Only because you make me," Nicaise protested, but his words lacked heat. Maybe he didn't mind Damen so much anymore, but he wasn't going to admit it.

"I saw my friend at the coffee shop," he said between sips of his drink, and then paused before continuing because it was a strange thing to say out loud, that he had a friend. But he supposed they must be, even if she was a three hundred year old witch.

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Nicaise fell silent, and Laurent felt the curious sensation of the boy coming into new focus. 'Oh?' he asked, just as casual, for the last thing he desired was to spook him. With his words neither mocking nor his expression cutting, the way Nicaise spoke meant this could not be Lincoln, and Laurent was familiar with few others. Liesel, perhaps. Laurent wondered if Nicaise hadn't felt himself free to linger.

'Which one?'

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"Her name is Agatha. She's three hundred years old and she has the power of witchcraft," Nicaise explained, taking a moment to sip his drink, his eyes still on the television. It was his favorite show, the one about pit bulls. He'd been wondering recently if he could talk Laurent into getting Toulouse a brother or sister, but he had a feeling it wasn't going to work.

"She asked me to go to a school event with her. I have to dress nicely."

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There were a number of alarming statements in that brief speech, enough that Laurent felt pressed to select just one. 'I see,' he sad, watching Nicaise. From his profile, it was difficult to tell whether any of that had been meant in jest. Laurent breathed in carefully through his nose, seizing on the most comprehensible of the offered topics. For the first time he regretted refusing to allow anyone to court him at home. He might have more insights, and now he had only his imagination.

'Is it a romantic engagement?'

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The shower was a brief affair, intended not to get him clean but merely to cool him down. He did not expend himself, all too aware of Nicaise in the other room and also willing to hold off until the later Laurent had promised. It would be worth it to wait, he new.

Hair damp, clothing righted, and composure once again regained, Damen entered the room to find Nicaise on the sofa with Toulouse and a drink of some kind. Laurent stood facing him, the expression on his face one of mild surprise and confusion.

'Is what a romantic engagement?' he asked, glancing from Laurent to Nicaise as he headed toward the kitchen to retrieve a drink for himself.

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"No," Nicaise said immediately, his voice tinged with confusion and a slight bit of defensiveness. He looked up when Damen entered the room, making a face at his question. "Nothing is."

At least, he didn't think it was romantic. She hadn't been looking at him in a certain way, she hadn't said anything romantic to him, and he knew all sorts of romantic things. Nothing had sounded like the sort of things the Regent said to him in private.

"She said it was a school dance where people dressed up to listen to music."

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Laurent glanced up at Damen in a rare tell before looking back at Nicaise. 'You are to escort her to a dancing event,' he said. He could not have learned every custom of Darrow yet, but it seemed to Laurent that this was clearly some sort of courting overture, whether Nicaise knew it or not.

It was encouraging. Surely the girl could not be three hundred - that was ludicrous. She likely had a wild imagination, and to spend time with someone his own age would do Nicaise good. 'Then we must purchase you appropriate clothing.'

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Damen caught Laurent's eye, a curious glance.

Retrieving his energy drink from the fridge and twisting off the cap, Damen walked quietly back into the front room, watching Nicaise more closely. The boy was denying a romantic interest, but Damen wondered if his years spent as the Regent's pet had damaged what he might consider romance.

'Are you courting her?' he asked, careful not to show any indication of being for or against the notion

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