Work Text:
Damen was the first to ruin his golden handcuff. It happened during wrestling with Nikandros and he got it break in half. First it was the most terrible thing to happen to him in a long time, but Laurent didn't find it that dramatic. He proposed they get a new pair.
That's how the fashion truly started. People previously had their own designs and merchants started to turn the old slave cuffs into accessories but the king started the big market.
All the jewelers started competing, pushing their ideas. Innovation came after innovation, the commoner started to separate some of their money in order to be able to buy golden cuffs for when their children wanted to marry, while the lords and ladies sometimes bought more than one pair, sometimes out of love for more than one, sometimes just in case.
Collectors became desperate to know exactly which designer was chosen by the kings, to make their golden bracelet collection the most spectacular.
Things got out of hand. After just one month the market was filled with both cuffs with faked gold - rarely admittedly from bronze - and cuffs with almost nothing but heavy precious stones.
Damen made the final decision. In the end it wasn't the original plain design, they had their initials carved into it, to state their unity. Laurent seemed indifferent as long as they had it, he refused to care more. Not as everyone else.
For centuries to come people gave golden bracelets when they wanted to express their togetherness. On weddings people exchanged golden cuffs, at death bed people changed them back to be able to remember the other.
Kids knotted yellow stripes to their arms while playing, when they were the kings or queens of their imaginary kingdom. Teenagers hid their wrist in front of their strict parents, for the parents not to see how they loved someone that was not someone already chosen for them. Young people took part in shady businesses just to be able to buy the most beautiful pair for them and their chosen one.
Storytellers told the tale for centuries how two kingdoms became one, how two kings made the unity last, turning blood and sweat to gold. It became a tradition. The story behind it became a legend.