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Stormwind at night was nothing like Gilneas had been. The white stone of the buildings bounced the moonlight all around in a way that should have been eerie, but with the warm glow of the streetlamps casting pockets of gold the whole city just felt warm. Even as they left the through the city gate to head into Elwynn Forest, the night stayed warm and inviting. The chill of night in Elwynn had nothing on a Gilnean evening, not even the threat of rain in the sky with the fluffy clouds content to stay far above them in the sky and a breeze so mild as to be welcome. Still, it was one of the first times Theo had been able to enjoy it like this- with company.
Vauden and he walked close enough that their arms brushed and sparked a wholly new sort of warmth in Theo’s chest. It felt strange to admit to the flutter of sensation the contact sparked, but dinner had been friendly enough that Theo found himself longing for a little something more than just that amicability. Vauden had been nothing but a gentleman from the moment they met but he’d never been shy with his admiration of Theo, from the way he perked when Theo walked into the room or his praise of Theo’s druidic talents when they were on a job together. It just didn’t seem like Vauden was insincere, and Theo had been waiting for that- for when the patience and interest got tired of the distance Theo was keeping Vauden at, but it had never come. So, when Vauden asked to take him to dinner, Theo had said yes.
It still didn’t feel real. Men like Vauden didn’t just stroll into Theo’s life, and they certainly didn’t stay. What was there to keep them? Theo had trouble letting his guard down and he knew it, there was no shortage of people who’d been happy to let him know just how difficult he was. He babbled and ranted and overall talked too much about nothing at all, he wasn’t interested in casual sex, and at least since Gilneas had forcibly entered the rest of Azeroth once more he was a worgen and that was off putting enough for some people. Vauden being a worgen too helped with that, Theo supposed, but they’d never met until the wall came down. Theo’d gone half the world away and found a man he could have bumped into on the street. He had no family, no education, no money, nothing at all to offer this man but himself and somehow that seemed to be enough for Vauden. He’d stuck around long enough to buy Theo dinner, at least, and while Theo knew Vauden was a tactile person he had respected that Theo wasn’t comfortable with him yet for as much touching as Vauden seemed to do with his friends.
Therein lay the problem Theo faced, however; he wanted that. That was what the urging, fluttering warmth in his chest felt like. It came in the shape of Vauden’s hands loose at his sides and his warm half-smile as he crinkled up into a wide grin when he caught Theo looking. Theo ducked his head and found himself grinning in turn. He didn’t know how Vauden did it, but he could make Theo smile with just that look. It wasn’t heated or pointed, just a shared look that said he’d seen Theo looking. Vauden didn’t mind and he didn’t push it- didn’t even say anything. He looked like he wanted to, though, so Theo derailed that by finally plucking up the courage to slide his hand into the older worgen’s.
Vauden’s hand was bigger than Theo’s but his skin soft between thin, scattered scars, his fingers long and slim where they curled around Theo’s hand in turn. His hand was warm in Vauden’s and the contact gave that hum of warmth in his chest even more strength. Theo glanced up at Vauden to find watching him, their steps slower still as Theo grabbing Vauden’s hand distracted them both. Being studied made Theo blush and he knocked his shoulder against Vauden’s with a shake of his head, a smile playing about his mouth.
“Don’t say a word, you, I told you this was new to me,” Theo mock glared, “Don’t make me feel like I’m getting it wrong already.” He lacked any heat in his words at all, and felt his chest tighten when Vauden chuckled at him. The older man laughed like a roaring fire: low, rumbling crackles of sound hot and heavy in Theo’s ear as Theo blushed darker.
Vauden shook his head, his smile softer as he leaned his shoulder against Theo’s. There was no brushing against each other now- the contact was constant as they walked and Theo liked it. It was new, definitely, but… nice. “I don’t mean to ever make you think that, I just found you painfully endearing,” Vauden grinned as Theo ducked his head. He was too fair to hide the flush across his cheeks and somehow Vauden didn’t make him feel an idiot for it. The curl of amusement in Vauden’s tone wasn’t embarrassing, not at all, it was something much worse. It felt like being seen .
Two months wasn’t a long time, certainly less time than some people Theo had known and had still labelled him cold and distant, but Vauden had been steadily wearing Theo’s guard down through sheer infallible patience. Theo would make a mistake and tell a little too much of himself and Vauden was interested, he cared, and worse still he remembered. He wasn’t just a forgettable face on the street to Vauden and considering Theo had spent enough time on the streets to perfect that ability to blend in: being seen was perhaps the most frightening thing Theo could think of. Being seen beyond his skills for thieving and fighting, at least. There wasn’t supposed to be anything more than that to anyone else, and somehow Vauden had found him anyway.
“You’re quiet tonight,” Vauden murmured, not sounding like a criticism as they followed the windy cobblestone path to Goldshire.
“Maybe I’m wondering why you felt the need to walk me home,” Theo teased, deflecting with a raised eyebrow, “You already know I can handle myself just fine, and I already think you’re a gentleman from the last time you walked me home.”
Vauden chuckled again and Theo thought that one time the man would laugh at something Theo had done and he wouldn’t feel like someone had turned him upside down in surprise. “I wouldn’t be much of a gentleman if I did it only once- in fact, I don’t think I’d be one at all. Maybe I just wanted to spend more time with you?” Theo scoffed and Vauden added, “Hey, I enjoy your company and I wanted to hear more about your trip to the Twilight Highlands.”
“No, you really don’t,” Theo barked out a laugh, “It was just a quick supply run. Good money but dull. Not even the threat of bandits with using the portal- plus the damn things make me nauseous.”
Inclining his head, Vauden hummed thoughtfully, “But the portal meant you weren’t gone very long, so for that I can’t complain.”
“Light, Vauden, can anything out of your mouth sound like it didn’t come from a trashy romance novel?” Theo pulled them to a stop so he could nudge into Vauden more effectively.
“Even if I mean it?” Vauden moved with the push but he didn’t fight back or reach out when Theo took back his hand from their warm clasp. He watched Theo with that same gentle fascination, like he could look at Theo for hours and still find him interesting, as Theo leaned against the old wooden fence at the side of the road. There was no one else around and the lamplight overhead on the fence post cast a golden bubble around them. Theo felt young and foolish and so very content. He couldn’t figure Vauden out but the perplexing problem of a man who seemed to sincerely like him and want him was one that Theo couldn’t complain about having.
There were worse things in life than having a devastatingly handsome man determined to woo him with that unfairly attractive smile, Theo admitted.
Vauden took a half breath, inhaling as though to speak, when he hesitated. Curious as to what the apparently shamelessly heartfelt flirt could be unsure of to say, Theo had to ask, “Hm?”
“I want to ask you something, but you can say no,” Vauden trailed off softly, like he couldn’t find the right words. He took a half step towards Theo and Theo caught Vauden’s gaze flick, just once, from Theo’s eyes down to his mouth and up again. “May I…,” The older worgen’s tongue slid out self-consciously to wet his lower lip and Theo froze, wide eyed and caught. He knew what Vauden wanted and the thousand sparking flares of nerves and heat in his chest trapped him in a shellshocked, disbelieving stillness. “Can I kiss you?”
It hung in the air a breath of a moment and Theo could feel the reminder he could refuse like an assurance. There was no force on Azeroth capable of moving Theo if he did not want to be moved, and he’d made that clear to more than a few who couldn’t accept ‘no’ as an answer, but that wasn’t the point. Vauden wanted him to be comfortable, he wanted Theo to want this as much as he seemed to. Light, everything this man did seemed specifically aimed at unravelling every shred of the wall Theo had put around himself. Vauden took it all down with slow, careful hands and that bright-eyed smile.
Theo nodded with a shaky jerk of his head, desire as much as nerves gnawing at him as he stared up at Vauden. There wasn’t much in the height between them but in the way Vauden took a step closer, it felt enough that he could sink into Vauden. That as shaky and uncertain as he felt, Vauden was steady and firm.
The hands came first, Vauden’s hands cupping the back of Theo’s head so slowly as though welcoming Theo to put up a hand of his own and stop them. The fingers met, twining through the loose curls of Theo’s long hair as Vauden drew himself closer, and Theo could feel the man’s warm palms bleeding heat into him. Slower still were the gentle steps Vauden took, planting his feet between Theo’s as Theo let the fence hold him up. It was taking everything Theo had not to tremble as he waited, baited breath, like he might topple over from how much he wanted this. The patience Vauden had was not something Theo understood, he was nervous and yet shaking with anticipation for Vauden to just do it already- trapped on a wordless precipice as he simply waited. Vauden’s head ducked down, tipping up as the taller man leaned himself lower for Theo’s sake. He didn’t urge Theo to meet him, just moved so that he could meet Theo’s mouth exactly where it was. Theo could feel the warm, toe-curlingly new sensation, of Vauden’s breath ghosting over his own mouth for the longest moment. It wasn’t quite teasing; it felt as much a question as the one Vauden had actually asked and Theo met it with a parted mouth- just as hesitant, but willing and trusting.
At the first brush of skin Theo opened his mouth. He knew this part, he’d kissed before, but it had never felt like this. With a shocking realisation, Theo knew he had never wanted a kiss this much. He’d never had a choice in how it went, never burned like a low fire for how long he’d ached for it. The moment hung heavy as Vauden breathed into him and then it was as though the seeming endlessness of Vauden’s patience had been reached. A curl of a growl left Vauden’s throat and while he wasn’t rough, he sealed his mouth over Theo’s in a full, claiming kiss that Theo could only sink into. He let Vauden move their lips together, chasing Vauden’s lead and surrendering to the man holding him.
A bemused, protesting whine of sound escaped Theo as Vauden pulled back to breathe and tip his head for another kiss. It lit something in Vauden, that growl curling his mouth once more as he pushed Theo against the fence. His chin and jaw burned from the rasp of Vauden’s stubble but it didn’t feel bad, the tingle of sensation a welcome one. Theo’s hands, unsteady and uncertain as they were, came up to grasp at the back of Vauden’s shirt and his eyes slid closed. It was almost harder to concentrate then, his fingers tight in holding on as Vauden’s tongue slid into his mouth, dipping again and again to taste and devour Theo- Vauden kissed like he wanted to consume him, intense and all at once gentle. Theo could get lost to this, and despite his best efforts- he was. He could keep up but every parted breath drew a hopeful, soft sound that incensed Vauden to kiss him again, harder, deeper, longer, until they were gasping and Theo was trying to claw his hands up Vauden’s back.
“Alright?” Vauden asked, both of them gasping and Theo’s mouth working as though he could still feel Vauden kissing, pleadingly tipped up to entice Vauden back.
“Mhm,” Theo didn't bother with words, slipping his hands higher up Vauden’s back and raising his arms to haul Vauden down hard. Their mouths met far rougher than Vauden had managed, Theo’s nose squashing against Vauden’s inelegantly as Theo demandingly kissed him. A chuckle whispered into Theo’s mouth and then the warm fingers in his hair tipped his head the right way for Vauden to direct the kiss far more pleasantly, his teeth nipping at Theo’s bottom lip and making Theo groan.
And Vauden had the nerve to ask ‘alright’? Light, Theo was more than alright. Kissing Vauden was like coming home.
“I should,” Vauden didn’t fight as Theo dragged him into another kiss, “take you home,” He grinned as Theo’s teeth found his lip and tried to copy what Vauden had done, “before the sun rises and I’ve kept you here all night.”
Theo moaned as Vauden carded his fingers just right through the hair at the nape of his neck, “I’m not complaining.”
That low growl came again, longer this time, and Vauden’s chest rumbled with it. Theo knew he was hard, he could feel Vauden’s hips against his own to know Vauden was as well, and yet the older man’s hands never strayed from toying with Theo’s hair. “I’m trying to be a gentleman,” He pointed out, petulantly enough that it made Theo laugh into a more chaste kiss than the last.
“Fine, fine… but we can do more of this another time, right?” Theo tightened his hold on Vauden’s hair as though if the answer was ‘no’ he’d be keeping Vauden right there until the sun rose, Vauden’s determined courtship be damned.
Vauden’s answering laugh sent a shiver down Theo’s spine to hear it, low and almost feral, rich with desire. “As long as you want to, I plan to kiss you every day from now on.”
“Sap,” Theo teased, as though he wasn’t breathing hard just at the idea.
Vauden grinned, “You love it.”
Theo had no smart response to that.