Chapter Text
Finral rounded a corner and saw legs.
A long, lean, perfect set of legs, clothed in obscenely tight trousers and stretched out lazily from the edge of a stone bench. He had to round the corner fully to get a look at the rest of the body and when he did Finral stopped in his tracks.
Holy shit.
The man sprawled on the stone bench at the centre of the gardens was tall, lean and broad shouldered with a luscious set of bright golden waves and an obscene set of lips below the line of his mask. His head was tilted back towards the sky, exposing the long line of his neck and the casually undone buttons of his black dress shirt- which was undone almost half way down his chest.
“Shouldn’t you be dancing?” Finral asked, striding in to the little grove as though he had every right to be there.
Ridiculously Gorgeous Solitary Goldilocks looking man jerked upwards in surprise, clumsily rearranging his limbs and staring at Finral with mouth gaping. He looked so shocked, and then suddenly so sheepish, hunching his broad shoulders and biting his bottom lip.
Honestly, it made him twice as attractive.
Finral dropped down on the seat beside the man and leant back casually, pretending this wasn’t every late night fantasy come to life.
“I mean, the women and men out here are of infinitely more fun than the royals inside,” he continued, when Long Legged Silent-Type tensed up beside him as he gazed at the statues in front of them. “but you’ve got to admit, the process of a heir would be a bit awkward.”
The man laughed at that and holy shit was that a gorgeous laugh.
He risked a glance sideways and got an eyeful of the most perfect mouth he’d ever seen. Ever. This close, even in the moonlight, he could see that the lips were pinker than pink.
The man leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees and let out a resigned kind of sigh.
“Did my mother send you?”
Finral raised an eyebrow in surprise, and then realized the effect was hidden behind his mask.
Oops.
He’d have to speak using actual words.
Which was tough because he’s been told he has the tendency to sound like an idiot and this was not something he wanted to do in front of sexy voiced angel man.
He intended to say something witty, but there was a note of dejection in the man’s voice that stopped him.” Nah, I’m just trying to make conversation.”
“Sure…” he sounded disbelieving.
“I can go, if you like?”
What was he saying? He didn’t want to go anywhere.
He wanted to stay right here in the presence of this beautiful, unhappy looking creature and see if he couldn’t turn that frown upside down.
And then maybe take off his pants.
Who knows?
“If you don’t mind?” Angsty Handsome Goldilocks said. “I’m kind of hiding.”
“From your mother?”
“From everyone,” he shrugged, “I normally love balls, but this one... there’s a lot of pressure, you know?”
I normally love balls was all Finral heard, but he nodded sympathetically.
“Yeah, absolutely. Wearing a mask you’ve got to rely on nothing but your personality to get by. The horror.”
And just like that, Sexy Lipgloss wearing man laughed, and Finral felt a rush of warmth in his chest and suddenly the most important thing in the world was to hear that sound again.
“Tell you what, Goldilocks,” he said, clapping a hand on the man’s shoulder, “how about you and me ditch the ball and go on an adventure?”
“Really?” the man- or boy, Finral realised, because with that smooth chin he was definitely younger than him- smiled hopefully.
“Really,” Finral grinned, leaping to his feet, “Come on,” he pulled the boy up after him, “everyone else is busy trying to figure out which mask Kirsch Vermillion is hiding under. Honestly surprised not to see a loud obnoxious Flamingo walking around calling everything in his sight ugly trash but it means we’ve got a whole palace to explore!”
“D-don’t you know who I am?” the boy asked, running long fingers nervously through his hair.
“Do you know who I am?” Finral countered. Names were probably a bad idea. Royal Rapunzel was unlikely to want to wander the castle with a mere Black Bull.
“No,” the boy frowned.
“Then we’re even,” Finral grinned.
He grabbed the boy’s hand and hauled him off towards the palace.
“Where are we going?”
“To explore the palace, please pay attention,” Finral chided.
“Um, just, it’s the other way...”
“Of course it is,” Finral spun around without stopping and dragged Boy Who Let Me Hold His Hand in the other direction.
“This way, I know a way in,” the boy said, tugging on Finral’s hand so they veered down a side path of the gardens.
Lengthy Legged Hand Holder overtook Finral in two strides and suddenly he was the one dragging Finral along, grinning excitedly.
“One, how do you know that? Two, you’re commandeering my adventure,” Finral said, as he jogged to keep up, not minding in the slightest so long as the boy kept a tight hold of his hand.
It was innocent and sweet and at the same time unbelievably hot.
“One, I practically live here so I know the palace really well,” the boy replied, reaching a seemingly hidden staircase and pulling it open with his spare hand.
How cliche.
“and two, you said we were even, so...”
He smirked at Finral and then winked, and Finral’s brain officially exploded.
Luckily, the cliche staircase was dark and long so he had time to get himself back under control after that unexpected wink of devastation.
The boy pulled open another door, and they found themselves in a large, empty feast hall.
“Where do you want to go?” the boy asked, still holding Finral’s hand and scuffing his shoes on the marble floor.
“You’re the one that knows the place,” Finral shrugged, “Where’s good?”
“The astronomy tower? It’s got a nice view, and we could use the telescope, look at the stars?”
“You want to go star gazing?” Finral knew he sounded incredulous, but seriously, who was this boy, and why was the universe taunting him like this?
This was far and away the most romantic thing that had ever happened to Finral ever, and it was all happening by accident. Or was it? He wondered, considering that the boy still held his hand tightly.
“Oh, is that- that’s not really adventurous, is it? Sorry, I don’t do this a lot.”
“Goldy, we’re trespassing on royal property,” Finral reminded him, “It literally doesn’t get more adventurous than this. Now, lead on, fearless commander!”
The boy ducked his head, blushing beyond the edge of his mask. “Are you making fun of me?”
“Yep,” Finral smirked, but he gave the boy’s hand a reassuring squeeze, “and I’m only just getting started.”
-
“Over there, that one’s Capricorn,” the boy said, pointing at a random patch of night sky.
Hmm,” Finral frowned, “that’s the goat, right?”
“Mmhmm.”
“I don’t see it,” he said, “but that over there is absolutely a penis.”
The boy’s spluttered laughter was music to Finral’s cynical ears.
Twelve.
He’d begun counting the times he made the boy laugh.
They’d been in the astronomy tower for hours, taking turns gazing at the heavens through the telescope (not a euphemism) and eventually climbing out one of the windows and on to the roof, where Obscenely Attractive Amateur Astronomer tried and failed to make Finral appreciate the stars.
“You’ve made too many penis jokes,” the boy sighed, rolling his head to the side until it came to a rest on Finral’s shoulder. “And I haven’t been allowed to make one joke about your horrendous hairstyle.”
“Unnecessary slander but ok” Finral hummed and felt the boy’s hot breath on his neck as he giggled.
Thirteen.
Finral tried not to react to his touch, but he’s pretty sure the stars themselves were jealous of his good fortune.
“See any other constellations up there?” The boy asked, lifting his head and turning his face back towards the night sky.
“Well, there’s just so many!” Finral said dramatically, gesturing up at the millions of sparkling dots, “So many tragically overlooked celestial genitals.”
“It’s absolutely criminal,” the boy agreed, “I’ll have the law changed immediately. They deserve official recognition.”
“See that you do,” Finral nodded, “and we must start educating the people.”
“You’ll have to write a syllabus. We can name it after you.”
“You’re not subtle Rapunzel” Finral smirked.
“What do you mean?”
“I see what this is about.” He teased. “You only really want me for my name.”
“Well, you only want me for my enormous tower!”
Finral stared at him for a moment and then cracked up.
You- you realize what you just said, right?” Gorgeous Euphemistic Lunatic just grinned suggestively.
“I knew I could do it,” he said.
“Do what?” Finral gasped, his stomach hurting from how hard he’d been laughing.
“Make you laugh,” the boy said, his voice low, “been waiting all night. Biding my time.”
“Well,” Finral giggled, “I was helpless against your attack.”
“I’m very stealthy,” the boy nodded.
“Mmm.”
They fell into a comfortable silence, both grinning stupidly at the night. After a while the boy spoke quietly.
“You’re still holding my hand.”
Finral glanced down at where there hands lay clasped between them, fingers having intertwined and not let go some time between clambering out onto the roof and identifying the hidden phalluses of the universe. It had been so natural, so thoughtless, that he’d thought the boy hadn’t even noticed.
“You don’t mind, though,” he said, resting his head back against the sloped roof and closing his eyes.
“No,” the boy murmured, “I don’t.”
They had slipped back into their silence again when the boy added;
“It’s very… intimate.”
“Yeah,” Finral smiled, “it is.”
He run his thumb in little circles over the back of the boy’s hand, and shivered when the boy started to do the same. He kept his eyes shut, not wanting to ruin the moment with reality, and just let the goosebumps rise on his skin as the pressure of the boys’ thumb increased and the music from the ball several stories below them- came to an end.
“Oh, fuck,” Finral said, jerking himself up. “Fuck.”
“What?” The boy sat up too, his mouth set in a worried line, “did I do something wrong? I’m sorry.”
“What time is it? Fuck.”
He scrambled up, carefully, though, because no one wants to hurl themselves off the tallest tower in the Vermillion Palace thanks very much, and clambered back inside through the window.
“Midnight,” he heard the boy’s disappointed voice behind him.
“Come on,” Finral groaned, waving frantically for the boy to follow, which he realized was futile because the boy hadn’t moved from the roof, “the balls over- we’ve gotta get out of here!”
The boy didn’t move.
“Goldy, get your sulking butt in here right now before you get in trouble.” “’I’m not sulking,” the boy sulked, climbing sullenly through the window. He looked like a puppet whose strings have been cut.
“Looks like sulking to me,” Finral said, eyebrow raised and mocking tone at level seven.
“Just don’t want it to be over,” the boy said, and they both knew he didn’t mean the ball.
Finral couldn’t help himself.
He took a step forward and pulled the nameless boy into a kiss.
The boy clutched at him and made a thrilled sound into his mouth and Finral thought it was about time to start a new head count, see how many of those he could extract.
Only, the ball was over, and if he didn’t get back to the the black bull’s base in time he’d be in trouble.
The boy tilted his head further to the side and brought a hand up to cup Finral’s cheek and he knew if he didn’t stop now he would never be able to leave this enigma.
“I have to go,” Finral said, forcing himself to draw back.
“Stay,” the boy said, reaching for Finral’s mask.
Finral stepped back towards the doorway.
“Seriously, I’m sorry. I have to go.”
“But- I don’t even know your name”
“I don’t know yours either,” Finral licks his lips, thinking but I know what you taste like. “So I guess we’re even.”
“I can’t tell you, I’m sorry ” he begged but Finral was already walking backwards, and the boy followed him. “I want to see you again though!”
Finral ducked his head, grinning hopelessly.
He was so gone.
“I want to see you too” he smiled and the boy’s face lit up.
“Where? When?”
Finral’s hand reached for his grimoire as he opened a portal in front of him. The boy stuttered in shock.
“You’re a spacial magic user?”
“Yeah, kinda handy for sneaking around” he joked but the boy just stared back, mouth twisting with a grimace. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours”
“I can’t, I’m sorry”
“So no name and no grimoire? You really know how to break a man’s heart here” Finral chuckled but goldy looked horribly dejected.
He opened his mouth to respond when when suddenly the door of the tower burst open.
He spun around and to his utter surprise saw Asta.
“Senpai!” Asta cried grabbing him and hauling him towards the door and down the steps before he knew what was happening.
“Asta?” Finral choked, but followed obediently.
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” Asta puffed, he’d obviously been running, “should’ve known you’d manage to teleport yourself into the coolest tower.”
“Asta?” Goldy was suddenly behind them, clearly having followed. “He called you senpai…..that means you’re-“
“I’m sorry but we really have to go, Vanessa left Luck in charge of the base and now Leo is asking why we’ve declared a duel against the entirety of the crimson lions.”
“Shit” Asta nodded and Finral opened his portal immediately without thinking. “Wait, just a second” the green haired man said as he tried to tug his arm out of the younger boy’s inhumane grip, “Just give me a second to say goodbye!”
“Can’t,” Asta shook his head. “Kirsch Vermillion never turned up to his own match making ball and the captains have been sent home which means Yami is on his way”
“You’re not a royal?” the boy behind them asked coldly, anger evident on his face. Asta and Finral flinched at the stark shift in emotion. “You trespassed Vermillion property, Black Bull’s were not invited”
Finral’s heart sank.
“Well I guess it’s a good thing I’m leaving then” all anger from the boy’s face immediately fell as Finral cooled his features.
“Wait no, I didn’t mean-“
“Asta let’s go.” The green haired man turned to look once more at the crestfallen face hidden beneath a mask behind them. “We’re clearly not welcome”
“No wait-“
Finral stepped through his portal and tried to ignore the lump in his throat when he thought that he’d never see that boy again.
He told himself that it was probably for the best. That boy would be riding home in a carriage of his own, and Finral would only ever be the unwelcomed Black Bull who managed to make him laugh.