Chapter Text
“What about-?” the matchmaker begins tentatively.
“No,” Miyamoto no Hiromasa says coldly. “I think I didn't make myself clear. The choice is not Princess Tsuyuko or anyone else. The choice is I marry Princess Tsuyuko or I join a monastery.”
“Why her?” an uncle laments. “You could have your choice of court ladies.”
“The court ladies bore me. Princess Tsuyuko does not. Now, I am going to talk to the lady myself. Start negotiations with her father.”
Hiromasa stalks off, followed by a sigh from an auntie of 'that boy hasn't been the same since he came back.' Idiots. Did they think he could be unaffected by the experience?
00
“You idiot!”
Hiromasa steps back, ears ringing from the slap. Tsuyuko is definitely not a delicate flower. The maid, a young woman barely older than her mistress, busies herself with patching a kimono. She clearly doesn't want to get involved.
“I don't want to marry anyone,” she snaps.
“I know. But, milady, do you think your father will listen? I've heard he's considering several prospects.”
She simmers down. Still angry, but she's at least willing to listen.
“That's why I took this step. My family's been after me to marry since that incident last winter. I've been considering it as well. I like you very much. I may not understand your interests, but your enthusiasm is adorable and I like the way you explain things."
“We can stay friends,” she says tentatively.
“True. But if you married someone else, they certainly wouldn't think kindly of you being friends with an unmarried man. It hurts me to think that your wings might be clipped, and I know you'd suffocate if you were closed up in a house.”
“I don't love you,” she says, bluntly. “Is that a problem?”
He chuckles. “A third of the couples at court are at each other's throats in private. As long as you don't hate me, I think we can manage. If someone does catch your eye later, then all I ask is that you be discreet.”
She glares at him. “Did someone catch your eye?”
He sighs. Well, she is a very smart woman, so he should've expected that.
“Yes. But it's impossible. The person in question wouldn't understand love if Okininushi and Uzume appeared before them and spelled it out for them.”
“I should be crying and screaming and throwing things at you,” she snaps.
“Oh, absolutely,” he agrees. “I am a complete and total cad. But at least I'm an honest cad.”
She flings a cup at him, and then throws herself on the floor, shoulders shaking. The maid supervising them jolts. Then she rolls belly-up clutching her stomach, and he realizes she's laughing.
“Oh,” she gasps out, “It's impossible to stay mad at you.”
He grins. “Good.”
“I still think you're an idiot.”
“That's fair.”
00
Abe no Seimei hadn't wanted to believe it. He'd dismissed the rumors at first. He supposed it was fate. Hiromasa wasn't the sort to want anyone ordinary, and Tsuyuko despite her interests, was as susceptible as anyone to a handsome face and kind treatment. Perhaps even more so, since her father neglected her and her mother had died.
“Three months?” he asks, “Isn't that rather sudden? Oh, Mitsuyo, go to the medicine chest and get me the medicine on the top shelf on the left. It's for Lady Tsuyuko.”
Tsuyuko blinks at him. “Why would I need medicine? I feel fine.”
“Of course you do, it's after noon. That medicine is for the morning.”
“Uh..Lady Tsuyuko, could you go check on the aconite? I'm sure I saw a dead leaf on one of them,” Hiromasa says quickly.
“Oh no, really? They looked fine to me,” she says, but heads to the garden to check.
“Seimei,” Hiromasa hisses, “Lady Tsuyuko isn't pregnant. My family just insisted on having a wedding as soon as possible.”
“Oh,” Seimei says. “Too bad, really. You'd make a good father, Hiromasa.”
He says it as lightly as possible, to hide the way his heart twists. Isn't Hiromasa his?
He didn't bring this man back from the dead only to sit idly by as someone else steals him. Something inside him screams and scratches, and he wants to lunge at Hiromasa and show him just who he belongs to.
“Hiromasa, you liar!” Tsuyuko yells from the garden. “The aconites are fine!”
00
“Well, that went well,” Hiromasa says, sighing.
“What did you expect him to do?” Tsuyuko asks.
“I don't honestly know. But I keep feeling like I slapped him in the face. Ha, I'm probably being silly, it's not like he cares.”
“Why would he give me this?” Tsuyuko asks, tossing the little packet. “It's not even winter, so I'm not going to come down with a fever or the flu.”
“Ah.. that particular remedy is also good for..uh. Morning sickness. Didn't any ladies in your family explain those matters to you?”
“Umm.. I usually hid when my aunties came over. And the maids just went round and round 'til I stopped listening. Mother died when I was three, and Father..well, I didn't see him for a couple of years after that. I went to stay with the Minister of the Left's family, but I was mostly raised by the servants.”
That explains a lot.
“You know what, Lady Fujio owes me a favor. I'll send a message to Lady Koume and arrange a visit for you.They should be able to explain things.”
He was tempted to fob this off on his most sensible cousin, but thought better of it.
She blinks owlishly. “Lord Seimei thought I was pregnant?”
“He thought the wedding preparations were being rushed. He said I'd make a good father, and I think he was actually being sincere. I should go back and check on him later, he's acting very odd.”
00
Seimei curls up in an open corner near the veranda breathing hard. Mitsuyo and Mitsumoshi were out on the veranda, no doubt waiting for him to fall asleep so they could tidy.
“Seimei?”
He knows that voice. He curls up tighter. Yasunori isn't nearly as persistent as Hiromasa, if he feigns sleep for long enough the man will go away. He hears the man kick off his shoes at the door and the clink of bottles.
“I brought...Seimei!”
He's hauled upright and Yasunori fumbles lighting a candle.
“'m fine,” Seimei protests, narrowing his eyes against the sudden light.
“Gods, man, your place looks like a war came through it! Was it another.. what did you do, bathe in wine?”
“Go 'way. I only had three.”
“Three cups?”
He's right to be skeptical, three cups of wine isn't even enough to make Seimei tipsy. Yasunori's seen Seimei drink people twice his size under the table before.
“Three jugs.”
“Oh, for..” he steps away, and a minute later Seimei feels a cup press against his lips.
“Drink. You'll thank me in the morning.”
He rolls his eyes but drinks the water anyway. Yasunori lifts him to his feet.
“Come on, you can't sleep on the floor.”
“Don want you, want my 'Romasa.”
“I regret to say he got ambushed by his relatives. He was worried about you and suggested I should come by.”
To be fair, any relative with an imperial title was hard to say 'no' to. “His” Hiromasa? Interesting. It's funny that Seimei developed such a strong connection to a man he'd only known for a year. Yasunori's known him since he was a child, and he can't say they're close at all.
Yasunori shoves Seimei onto his mat and grabs a couple of blankets. It's nearly summer, but the nights are still a little chilly. He shakes them out and piles them on Seimei. Seimei grabs them and burrows into it, disappearing until Yasunori can barely see the top of his head. He sets a bowl by the bed; Seimei's going to be miserable tomorrow.
He sighs. Seimei still sleeps like a caterpillar in a cocoon. He sets up some wards, and then turns to leave- or he would leave, if his sleeve wasn't snagged.
“Hey..'Nori. When I got cursed, I dreamt someone held my hand and cried for me. It was a nice dream. But that wasn't you?”
If he didn't know Seimei was plastered, he'd know it now.
“It wasn't me, and that wasn't a dream. Hiromasa was devastated that day; he only left your side to enlist Princess Tsuyuko's help.”
Well, and to look for Lady Doman, but better not to bring that up. Seimei would be furious.
He sweeps out, but makes a detour to the kitchen, where he leaves out a glass of water and some headache medicine. He makes a note to ask for an increase in Seimei's household allowance to fix the furniture and get some servants.
Any other man in Seimei's position would have a cook and at least two servants. All Seimei has is his shiki, and he cannot afford that drain if he gets attacked again.
He takes almost all his meals at court, Yasunori knows. Seimei's idea of cooking is singeing some meat or some mushrooms and maybe cooking a little rice. What a bleak place this is.
He remembers a conversation he overheard at court, between the Minister of the Left's son and Lord Atsumi.
“Did Lord Abe and Lord Minamoto get into a fight? Lord Abe's acting like a lover scorned him.”
“It was over that poet, I'm afraid,” Lord Atsumi replied. “I'm not sure of the specifics, but Hiromasa lost his temper and said some harsh words. It's always like that with him. He's normally good tempered, but push him too far and he'll explode like a firework. And of course they're both taking it hard; a man with only one friend would take a quarrel between them far more seriously than a man with a dozen friends.”
“But Lord Minamoto's so well liked and friendly.”
“True, but he has hardly any close friends. I'm not surprised he and Lord Abe have grown close, they're really quite similar.”
“They're not alike at all,” the younger man protested.
“We'll have to disagree on that.”
That was when Yasunori decided to speak to Hiromasa. He could not let a silly misunderstanding ruin Seimei's first chance at a friendship.
Atsumi was right; they both are very stubborn, determined to protect the things that are important to them and the heavens help whoever got in their way.
Lord Okinokushi, help me get those two idiots together, he thinks. Incense for a year, I promise! It'll be worth it not to have to put up with fox-flavored vinegar. On second thought..maybe five years.
00
One of the lesser known onmyoji powers was the ability to travel through dreams. For most it took years of training. For Seimei, he'd had to have two years of training before he could stop entering other people's dreams at random. Yasunori had a flare for it himself; he could even shape dreams if a client asked for it. Basically, the problem was that Seimei usually never slept without a few dozen wards ensuring that his dreams were his own.
However, he'd neglected that tonight, he suspects, as he wanders a bustling strange city. Ah, a trader home from the sea, dreaming about a city they'd been to. He's almost tempted to stay and explore, but thinks better of it. Perhaps some other night. It's a pity, he likes rambling through people's memories of faraway places.
He walks again, strays into another dream, ducks into a yard to avoid being seen by two lovers who wander the back streets hand in hand and sneaking kisses.
Where is he now? Someone's room? That person in the bed looks awfully familiar.
“..Seimei..” Hiromasa says.
He nearly jumps a mile out of his skin, and he can feel his teeth lengthen. He flattens himself against the wall as another Seimei walks past him. Hiromasa sits up and tugs the dream Seimei down by the wrist.
“Did you miss me, I was only gone for a few minutes,” the dream Seimei says, before leaning in for a kiss. Seimei knows he's not controlling this dream, because the Seimei before him is not the one he sees in the mirror. Hiromasa laces his hands in the dream Seimei's hair and deepens the kiss.
“Felt like longer,” Hiromasa pants when their lips part. Dream-Seimei's hand slides somewhere that causes Hiromasa to jolt and groan. Seimei thinks for a moment that he's in pain, but Hiromasa seems to be pressing closer to the dream Seimei, and even nuzzling his neck.
“You're so eager tonight,” the dream Seimei purrs.
Seimei freezes, as his dream self presses Hiromasa down on the bed. He can't see much, but what he does see and hear is shocking.
He wakes up in his own bed, panting and uncomfortable and absolutely mortified.
That's what Hiromasa wants? For Seimei to take him, defile him? Or maybe he'd like it the other way around sometimes?
He presses an arm against his forehead. Out of all the broken phrases he'd heard tumble out of Hiromasa's mouth, not one had been 'no' or 'stop.'