Work Text:
A light touch on Clockwork's shoulder startles him out of his thoughts.
Danny appears next to him in all his ethereal glory, the constellations on the inside of his cloak twinkling in the dim light of the Realms and the unforgiving chill of space heralding his presence.
Clockwork pulls the hood of his cloak down until it casts his face in shadow, trying to hide his blush in vain. He knows it's been noticed when Danny chuckles, settling on the floating door he's sitting on, close enough his thigh brushes against Clockwork's tail.
Clockwork's fingers squeeze his staff where it lies on his lap, hard enough the new leather of his gloves creaks a little.
He takes a deep breath to steel his resolve.
“We shouldn't see each other anymore.”
-
He foresaw their first meeting, back when his Sight still allowed him clear visions; Daniel the Enforcer, the iron fist of the king’s will, and many other titles.
Clockwork had been exploring the Realms, fresh after the botched ritual that made him, seeing the places he hadn't been to before but had already known. As expected, he was surrounded by a group of elemental ghosts, attracted to the tune of his newly formed core. As expected, Danny appeared out of nowhere, and the mere sight of him was enough to send the ghosts scattering in fear.
What was not expected was Clockwork freezing up, because the visions did little to prepare him for the intense power the ghost in front of him emanated, nor was he ready for the way his core skipped a beat at the sight of him.
Danny either didn't notice or didn't care about his freak out, bowing with a graceful flourish; the cape flew open with the movement, and Clockwork was enthralled by the swirls of galaxies in it.
“Hand of the king, at your service,” Danny said with pompous aplomb and promptly laughed. Clockwork felt his core stutter again.
-
Danny tilts his head, solid green eyes pinning him in place. His brows furrow in concern as he leans closer, trying to parse the expression hidden by his hood.
“What do you mean?”
-
Clockwork is not an exception from the Seer curse; like all of them, he cannot See his own future, nor that of those who are close to him. Best he can do is distorted, foggy dreams of an unclear Sight; a glimpse of what might’ve been, or can possibly be. Just like all the Seers, he chooses reclusive loneliness; he’d rather not love, and know for sure what will happen than to risk the people around him.
Weeks after meeting Danny for the first time, he begins to see unprompted visions; indecent, explicit ones, full of shared nights and heat and bonding. He can't see who it is, can't see anything, really, besides the vague feeling of the touch, but knows with absolute certainty the ghost he's with is the ghost king.
That presents him with two problems at once; he has not yet met the ghost king in person, as he is rather elusive for anyone outside his closest council, and he's quite sure his core has imprinted on Danny. The hand of the king.
-
Clockwork, again, takes a breath he doesn't need, a remnant of his past life, and forces the words out.
“Me being near will bring you only danger,” he says, intentionality trying to stay vague. Nothing worse than making his own ill-timed prophecy.
Danny, to his credit, takes a moment to think about that, before dismissing it outright. “What kind of danger can you possibly bring, little one?”
Clockwork sends him an offended glare.
“The ghost king kind.”
-
Clockwork had, initially, worried about getting Danny in trouble, should anyone find out he's a halfa; the ghost king had a strict policy of (not) interacting with humans, often sending Danny to punish those who snuck into the human realm and wreaked havoc. He wasn't sure if the rule still applied if a half human entered the Ghostly Realms, and wasn't keen to find out.
“Are you sure it's okay?” He asked again, still not entirely convinced. Danny, for all his openness, could evade direct questions with an ambiguity that put Clockwork to shame.
Danny sent him a grin, hand coming to ruffle his hair. Clockwork barely managed to suppress the trill of his core when his fingers sank in. “Don't worry, the king likes me.”
After the visions had begun to repeat with insistence, his worry bled into a fear; surely, any sort of core bond with the king's consort would be punished severely, no matter how much unexplained favor Danny had from the king.
He tried to pull away, to stay away from the Realms longer in hopes it would dim the bond between them. He never quite managed; the pull of the Unreal and the bound cores too fierce for him to truly resist.
In his absence, rumors spread about the king's foul mood; the lawbreakers hide in the deepest corners of the Realms, for the iron first is not merciful in his punishments.
-
Danny laughs.
Clockwork forgets his own anguish for a moment, indignant. Before he can say anything, Danny shakes his head, still chuckling.
“Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you can't see your own future.”
He takes in Clockwork’s confused expression, and leans closer, close enough that frost begins to crawl up the metal of Clockwork’s staff.
“Want to see a cool trick?” He asks with a grin. Clockwork, still confused by the sudden mood change, nods.
The next moment his core is thrown off by a wave of sheer power pouring out of Danny; a crown of black ice, delicate in its intricacy, appears floating above his head. The bond between them, fragile as it was, snaps into place like forged iron.
“It's you,” Clockwork breathes out. The Future, so radiant in all its possible pathways, suddenly blinds him as his Sight clears up; for a moment he's struck speechless by the enormity of it, his mostly human mind struggling to keep track of his own timeline.
“Me,” Danny agrees, looking at him with knowing amusement. It must be entertaining indeed for someone so ancient to watch him struggle with his own element. He's still close, the bond between them thrumming at the proximity.
“How-” Clockwork can't quite finish the sentence; it was honestly embarrassing how he never put two and two together, now that he thinks about it. Danny- his king- must think he's stupid, or useless as a Seer-
His impromptu meltdown is interrupted by Danny's hand pulling his hood down and cupping the back of his head, before he leans even closer to capture his lips in a kiss. The motion startles Clockwork out of his panic, and all the visions he's had - all clear now, down to most intimate details - slam into him at once. He gives out a keening moan, and can see his cheeks glowing from the heat, casting a faint blue tint at Danny's skin.
“I can finally show you my lair,” Danny whispers against his lips when he pulls away only to press another kiss under Clockwork's ear. The sound that is torn out of him is indecent. “Introduce you to the court properly.”
Clockwork, still breathless, nods. After all, who is he to go against Fate.
Danny sends him a blinding smile and raises to his full height, all the stars and galaxies and novas shining bright, and gives him his hand to take.
Clockwork takes it.