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The morning sun seemed like a blessing and a curse altogether. The sunshine rays filtered through the window, bathing the couple in its warmth. The only difference was, one had been awake for a couple of hours and the other one was stirring, trying to shake enough sleep from his body to roll and end up besides the awaken man, even going as far as hugging him with both his arm across his waist and one of his legs above both of the other man's.
Dawn had awakened Neuvillette instantly, like an impatient clock that could wait to strike 6am, while the sneaky morning sun had just awakened Wriothesley against his better nature. He was sore all over.
"Good morning, Wriothesley"
Laziness left his body soon enough after hearing the morning voice of the Iudex. Good Archons, did it have to be so deep and soft at the same time? Of course he knew there were some things he had to still find out, and he would, now that they were in a relationship, but this wasn't one that he was expecting. Sadly, after pronouncing those words, he cleared his throat. At that Wriothesley looked up, his head resting on his shoulder while hugging him in bed.
"Good morning, midnight rain"
His voice came in a rough whisper, and Neuvillette's heart skipped a beat. Ah, so that's what he was supposed to expect every morning from here on out? He could get used to it. Not only to his voice after a full night of sleep, but also to his clinginess; to the sleep drawn onto his face and how that softened his expression so much. That was another of his favorite parts of him. Love, had found, had so many ways to just be; he found love in Wriothesley, but also on how he worked, how he was, how he liked to classify his tea collection, to ramble about it for hours to end. On how he loved to listen to him ramble as well, and always respected his working times.
He had managed cases about love, had read and seen it.
But this? This was his definition of it. Wriothesley had taught him what it meant. Had fought tooth and nail to convince him to just experience it. And he had given him a chance. He was so glad he had let Furina talk him through it, in her own dramatic way. She had her own way with words, never being too direct but always with her heart.
They were staring at each other, almost falling in love all over again, drowning in the ice blue and lilac of each other's eyes. If they were surrounded by people, it would have been almost embarrassing to look at.
At the same time they closed the gap, and joined in a chaste kiss that quickly turned into more. Neuvillettes hands were both on his back and his face, caressing the one-day shadow in Wriothesley’s face. The Duke had slowly gotten up, leaving his hands beside Neuvillette’s body so he could rest his weight while kissing him on top of him. Lips that had barely woken up as well, but even then Neuvillette’s were always cold.
Not in an uncomfortable way, more like he had drunk too much cold water and had left that coldness on them with some wetness left. Wriothesley drank from them as if he had just come from Sumeru’s desert and Neuvillette was the only drop of water left in the world. He would drink from him forever if he could.
His skin was usually cold as well, but he would always remember how warm he was by the end of the night, when they had explored each other’s body step by step, letting Neuvillette take things one at a time. They talked to smooth things out, make it as comfortable as it could be for him, as well as laughed and tried things. Once both of them were coming down from the haze of coming a few times, Neuvillette was smiling at him. It was quiet, as all his smiles were, but this one was for him. He could feel how thankful he was for everything, not only his patience with the night. But patience was something you applied to things that could usually piss you off or were boring. Loving and worshiping him was a duty he would gladly do every day, as long as he would have him.
A sound akin to an ‘m’ came out of the Iudex’s throat, and Wriothesley broke the kiss to look him in the eyes, still on top of him. They were both smiling, and the Duke thought that if he could take a picture of this moment and put it in his office, no one would be able to enter anymore in order for them not to see it. Which lost all purpose, then.
“As much as I would love to pursue this further, I am afraid I have matters to attend to. In a couple of hours I have to take care of a few trials, so my responsibility tells me I must review them thoroughly again.”
The Duke simply nodded a couple of times, an understanding but sad smile drawn in his face. He started to retreat and sat at the edge of the bed, but before he could do anything else Neuvillette’s hands were on each side of his face and his lips were on top of his again. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t surprised, but you wouldn’t find him complaining.
The Iudex had decided to open his heart to him, and that came with taking what he cataloged as risks. He didn’t know how to do it, though, so he was trying things. That was one of the things they had talked about last night, so he was going through with it. The Hydro Dragon felt Wriothesley’s hands over his wrists, answering his kiss with his own lips. It was more pure than the one they had shared, but still left them both with the knowledge that they were gonna miss each other until next time. Ideally that would be tonight, but work at the Fortress and at the Palais sometimes took their hours away, and days could go by until they had free time again to meet, spend time together or just share each other’s company. They both broke the kiss at the same time, joined foreheads and breathed in.
Wriothesley’s thought that this is how teenagers in love must feel, based on things he had read. Neuvillette only thought that in all his five hundred years of life, he had never experienced this feeling, and he might never grow tired of this. It was exhilarating and scary at the same time, but they already had the talk about it. He knew what he was, knew the risks and his fears about it so he tried to focus on the good things. On how his stomach flipped a little every time they touched, how his heart stopped and started beating at the sight of him. At the beginning he even thought he was getting sick because he knew that wasn’t normal behavior for a dragon’s physiognomy. It took Furina listening to a summed up version of his symptoms and a look at how he behaved with Wriothesley in the same room to make up a story and share it with him prior to a trial as a “special intervention theatrical reproduction of a romance”, or at least that’s how she called it.
A few days later, he realized what his heart was screaming at him.
Not much later in that week, he had talked about it with Furina.
And the next day after that, he had gone down to Wriothesley’s office to confess, as if it wasn’t a big deal. As if that hadn’t made him the happiest man alive. Probably.
Finally Neuvillette got up, leaving behind a kiss on his partner’s forehead and got his bearings to go get changed. Wriothesley would have to leave as well, since he actually had a lot of work to catch up on down below. He let his back hit the bed, his hands behind his head and looked at the ceiling. It could wait, just for a moment.
He needed to embrace this memory, this feeling.
Even though the sun was stubbornly telling him to start his day, it could wait.
The Sun wouldn’t tell him what to do, but his Moon could.