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For all of Damen's tales about the admirable Theomedes, there was a side to him that, whether he knew her or not, had to belong to his mother.
Laurent always pondered this each time they returned to the palace in Lentos, when Damen was quieter only in the sense that he could hear his heart pounding with the excitement of being together rather than his blatant words. Instead of watching for a reaction while showing off every inch of every hall and atrium, he spent frequent moments viewing it all thoughtfully, eyeing simple, delicate lines with approval before he would turn to face Laurent with a widening smile like he'd found the pièce de résistance. He would speak at length about his favorite artistic preferences and how they compared to the rest, explained the verses of long winded epics that he could recall with detail, and even his posture when he could relax as a lover rather than as a king sincerely resembled that of the statues Laurent had seen of Egeria.
Tonight it was a simple walk through the garden nearest the stables that had Damen quieted again. They were losing themselves to silent moments more and more, something Laurent would have thought to be relieving yet had him at times internally struggling for something to say, unaccustomed to intimacy like this despite only holding hands. He felt that the lazy rhythm of crickets over the wind contradicted too much with his own rapid pulse underneath his unafflicted gaze.
"When I learned the legend of Apollo creating a flower from the deceased Hyacinth's blood to save him from Hades, I thought it was sweet," Laurent mentioned. "But I can't say I wouldn't be a little embarrassed myself if I died from getting knocked in the head by a discus."
It never was difficult to make Damen laugh. He was physical about it too, leaning onto Laurent's bicep as if it would honestly support him at a third of his weight, which made him chuckle as well, tasting the freedom of being witnessed like this hesitantly but happy. The hyacinths by their feet blew without a care in the world, just as the wind passed right over their shoulders, not without slightly mussing hair.
"Who's teaching you all these things? I wouldn't think Akielon folklore to be part of your studies growing up."
"Any guesses?"
"Not Nikandros," Damen said with a frown, pulling away from him. Laurent laughed again, well aware of their confrontation over practicing wrestling with him when they last saw each other.
"Not him," he agreed, "Makedon, if you'll believe it. He has a mind for history, and for triviality." Again, Damen was laughing. It wasn't hard to imagine him spinning hour long tales of mythology while Laurent stored every detail of it in that mind of his, hard as it must have been to stay awake through it all.
"I like the orchids better," Damen said. "Even without a story behind them, they're beautiful. Their colors, their scent..." He bent his knees to pluck a particularly bright one by his calf and brought it close to take in the fragrance.
Laurent watched the field of hyacinths and gentle breezes with a silent captivation, even enjoying the little shivers from the drastic change in temperature as a lively feeling after a day so hot. In Vere, there would be a vast enough array of species to have one dizzied just looking at the various colors. He could start to see Damen's mind for simplicity, for tenderness, for all the little things that could be appreciated on their own without having to be painted so loud and bold.
In the next second, Damen sneezed with such thunderous volume it nearly had Laurent jump out of his skin.
He stood frozen with a startled watch on him, his hands instinctively brought in front of himself for too many moments before he noticed and put them down in slow reluctance. No beast could be capable of making such a raucous sound, yet here Damen was, absentmindedly sniffing while he held the orchid that miraculously hadn't blown off away from himself.
"Sorry, there's a lot of pollen at this time of year. Do you want to try..."
His voice broke off again, his body halted in wait for the next inevitable sneeze whereas Laurent for one had had enough. At the very sight of Damen's nose twitching he took off in the other direction, still flinching mid-run at the explosion behind him before Damen began to call out his name, unable to so much as finish the "-ent" without breaking off into a fit of laughter.
Laurent was slowed by that as well, his sprint coming to a stumbling, giggling walk that worsened when he could hear Damen running up behind, tackling him off of his already weakened knees. What resulted was unending hysterical laughter with the genuine threat that he might suffocate with Damen on top of him and frankly he didn't care. He could barely move a muscle to tap out, tears pushing out of his eyes from the force of straining gasps that were starting to hurt his mouth and stomach. Again, he didn't care. He didn't want it to end.
This time, it was his nose that started to itch from the bed of flowers he'd been flung onto, and while it couldn't really be noticed underneath Damen's mass of shaking muscle, his body was stiffening up. He turned his head to the side, giving a short "Hh-" before shuddering once, then blinking and looking up at Damen's wild grin accompanied by confused eyes.
"What was that?" he asked.
"I sneezed," said Laurent, blankly.
"...That?" They were laughing again, gasping for minutes before either one could get a word out. Damen said, rubbing his cheek to ease the ache of too much smiling, "A mouse isn't even that quiet!"
"A lion isn't even as loud as you," Laurent retorted, eager to pull himself up out of the hyacinths and sit up to catch his breath. "I thought you'd been attacked." It still felt like it was echoing through his skull, though maybe that was just the pounding of his heart after getting so worked up and exhilarated. Damen rose from the ground and held out a hand to him, receiving half of Laurent's weight once he stood. He didn't seem to have any desire to push off.
"My father used to say that if you tried to hold a sneeze in, your head would explode," Damen commented with pride. Laurent smiled at that, feeling already that he was going to have a headache by the end of the night. Without regrets.
"You take after him a lot." He was fondly watching Damen sway, drunk with joy and pulling Laurent along all the way. "Your mother, too."
Damen looked surprised by the mention of her. But he wasn't at all displeased, more curious that she would be brought up when he spoke so seldom of her. "Why do you say that?" he asked.
"I only know of stories and statues, but I considered her to be thoughtful. Like you." Amused, Damen slipped his hand into Laurent's again, happier to hear that from him than from anyone who had actually known her. Laurent then said, frowning a little bit, "Though, if she sneezed like you do, I don't think she ever would have been suitable for marriage."
Damen started to grin down at him when the corner of his mouth twitched, hazy-eyed with hitching breath while Laurent's body went rigid in terror against him. He paused for a moment, then chuckled with a playful, "Just kidding."
Relief eased through Laurent before Damen threw half his weight into another deafening sneeze anyway, earning himself a handkerchief shoved into his face before Laurent made a run for the palace once more.