Work Text:
Work never stopped, that much was clear. If there wasn't a Wild Hunt threat that required Illuga to be present at the scene, he was doing paperwork. If he wasn't doing paperwork, he was fighting the Wild Hunt. If he wasn't doing either, he was doing odd jobs, such as delivering messages across camps, mostly from Piramida to the Favonius Keep, or helping in Piramida's kitchen like he did when he was younger, or offering aid to anyone who needed it, or training Paivio and Dragana. Since a few months ago, another thing got added to the roster, something that should be work related, but really, just isn't: spending time with the Vice-Captain of the 5th Company within the Knights of Favonius.
It all started as merely work related matters, but it eventually grew out into something more akin to friendship, and Illuga ended up finding himself yearning for more, no matter how many times he told himself that he's not fit for it. Besides, Lohen is like a wild animal; always on alert, ready to strike when needed, and jumpy and easy to scare off when it comes to his personal feelings. Like Illuga, he'd been in denial for the longest time when he found an interest in Illuga that he felt he didn't deserve to have, and he'd almost fled when Illuga had pushed through his own complications with himself and confessed. Really, he was like a deer in headlights- a hare with its ears straight up, hearing a prowler, getting ready to run, but he hadn't. Somehow, they had managed to break down their walls, and acknowledge and accept what they felt.
Being with Lohen certainly isn't for the weak. He frequently asks for, or demands spars, teases in a way that can bring Illuga to pulling his hair out, puts himself in danger and comes to Illuga covered in dirt and blood, reeking of the Abyss and sometimes even with ice-covered wounds that could give him frostbite. But Illuga always patches him up. He always greets him with love, no matter how he walks up to him. He always worries, because he can't not care. He entertains the spars, pushes through the teases and sometimes teases back, and he always has full faith in that Lohen will be able to get himself out of the danger he put himself in, because he loves him for who he is, and he wouldn't want him to change. Illuga will remain to accept Lohen, take care of him, listen to him, comfort him, kiss the stab wound in his hand, and be a reliable person to Lohen for as long as he wants to have him.
Being with Illuga also isn't the easiest ordeal. He will stay at Cliffwatch Camp for days if not weeks if someone doesn't remind him to go home when the Wild Hunt is calm enough around the area to do so, he will overwork himself, come home unnecessarily late time and time again, flop into bed exhausted and with stained clothes, he will put others before him, and he will succumb to the voices in his head from time to time. But no matter how strained Lohen himself is, he will always help Illuga undress when he goes straight to bed in filthy clothing, will always stop by Cliffwatch Camp when he's in the area, check in on Illuga and coax him into taking even a short break, wait for him until he's inside his home no matter what hour it is. He will always push himself in front of Illuga so that he doesn't have the chance to be in front of everyone else, and he will always make sure that his voice is louder than the ones in his head. Even though he's not the greatest at it, Lohen always tries to make his comfort be louder than the screams of agony.
And it just so happened to be a day where Illuga is working blisters onto his hand with how much paperwork he's been writing. Luckily, Lohen found him at his desk in his home in Piramida, and not somewhere at Cliffwatch Camp or Nasha Town, much more public spaces. This makes it a lot easier for him to wring Illuga’s attention from work. Not that Lohen would change his methods wherever he finds Illuga, but it's more so Illuga’s self control depending on the location.
"Birdie," Lohen hummed when he walks into the house without knocking. Illuga’s home is one big space, with only two separate rooms for the bedroom and the bathroom. The living room, office, and kitchen are all one space, divided by furniture. He places his polearm right next to the door, right next to Illuga’s, not caring about how dirty it is at the moment. He ditches his boots, kicking them off on the doormat with surprising ease, considering how they reach his thighs. His shoulder armor piece comes off as well, thrown in the direction of the coat rack with slight hopes that it caught on a hook (a 'clang' sound indicates that it did hit, but fell on the ground shortly after). He spots Illuga at his desk, back turned to him. He then noticed the insanely large stacks of paperwork. One had gotten significantly smaller, making the other one much bigger, but the comical sizes of them makes Lohen alert instantly. While he'd been off slaughtering Wild Hunt and training his subordinates at the Favonius Keep, Illuga has been sitting here since early in the morning, and it's starting to get dark out now. With how he's hunched over his currently work in progress paper, it seems that he had very little, if not any breaks. Lohen sighed. "Birdie," He repeated.
Illuga just hummed in response.
That won't do. Lohen marched over to his partner, and peeked over his shoulder. Illuga usually has very neat handwriting, but it's visibly faltered, which is not a good sign. Illuga is precise in his work. Letting mishaps like wobbly handwriting pass is a sign of a bad work flow, carrying more stress rather than focus. He's been at it for hours on end, and he still has a patrol shift the next day. If he's not stopped, he'll get himself killed. Well, no. No matter how shitty Illuga is doing, he never lets himself get killed, but he'll let himself kill his brain.
Lohen places a hand on Illuga’s shoulder. He flinches, the letter he was dotting down slipping below the line, causing Illuga to get frustrated. "'Lua." Lohen says more like a statement rather than a call to his lover.
"Dammit," Illuga murmurs, his unoccupied hand curling into a fist. He refuses to look at Lohen, lest he give him an outrageous expression that he doesn't deserve, no matter how many times it's fair to show it to him. This was not one of those moments where it's rightfully placed.
Lohen's free hand reaches for the quill clutched in between Illuga’s fingers, and urges it from him, using a few of his fingers to loosen the grip, and wiggling it out. He set it down next to the bottle of ink, and he then proceeds to scoot the equipment and papers to the side, creating more space in front of both himself and Illuga. He then moved to stand next to his beloved rather than behind. "Earth to Illuga?"
The silver haired glances at him, trying his hardest to hide his irritation, but the attempt is not that fruitful. Lohen raises his eyebrows at him, as if to say; 'Is it really my fault?' with the knowledge that it in fact wasn't, and that gets Illuga to sigh and slump his shoulders, something that needed to be done so desperately. "I'm sorry," He sighs out, exhaustion quickly overpowering the frustration. "I'm almost done, I swear."
Lohen made a 'tut tut tut' noise with his tongue as he leaned against the desk, sneakily planting a corner of his butt on it, making one of his feet get off the ground just slightly. "And by almost done you mean that you'll be forced to stop for patrol tomorrow morning?"
Illuga eyed him. Guilty as charged.
Lohen sighed again, albeit more dramatically, and he lifted his hands to have one arm rest around his chest, and the other balance on it so he could hold his own face. "And here I wanted to have a nice evening with you. We haven't done so in a while, with Wild Hunt attacks acting up again. They finally calmed down, but now you're not available? What a shame," He spoke for feigned sadness, knowing exactly what he was doing. He scooted himself up on the desk further until he was fully sitting on it. "It's been kind of boring, getting rid of it all without you because you're here doing paperwork that you should leave to your subordinates…" as he was speaking, he scooted closer to Illuga, who leaned back in the chair, subconsciously creating space for Lohen to scoot further until he was sitting right in front of him, Illuga between his legs.
"I'm really sorry- I'll really finish it tonight, I promise! I'll make sure we can still do something together, okay?" Illuga said, and he wanted to say more, but he lost his voice while watching Lohen undo the overcoat (or cape, or whatever it is) from his uniform, and drop it to the side of the desk, revealing his body more. The Knight wants to smile at the fact that Illuga glanced at the corset, at the curve of his body despite his muscles. "I.. um…."
To make it worse, Lohen stretched his upper body and yawned, making a show of his little trick. "Mm… But I am getting tired. I'll be in bed by the time you'll be done," He leaned backwards on the desk, revelling in the way Illuga’s adams apple bobbed as he swallowed while continuing to hold his gaze onto his beloved knight. "But it's okay. I can find a way to fill my evening. Perhaps I'll do some more poison testing, or I can plot something for my company and something to use against Varka. Perhaps I could search some more monsters, make patrol easier for you. Wouldn't want to make your actual duty hold you up from your paperwork either, right?"
Illuga was faced with a dilemma; should he resist the temptation his lover was putting on the table (quite literally) and push through the paperwork that had to be handed in only three days from now, or should he give in, allowing himself to take a much needed break and pleasing the man he's so devoted to? Hm…
"Give me ten more minutes."
Lohen yawned again. "Perhaps I should turn in early, actually."
Illuga almost wanted to grip his hair and throw his head back, but instead, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, staying composed… well, what's actually considered 'staying composed'?
His hands ultimately abandoned the desk and the want to continue his work, opting to place them onto Lohen's legs instead. They slid down a little below his knees, where it was easier to get a hold on them, and he lifted them up to rest on his shoulders.
Lohen was going to ask what he was doing with a smug smirk on his face, that of an idiot who knows he's won, but words failed him in favour of gasping when Illuga’s hands almost teleported to his waist, pulled him closer to him and lifted him up from the desk with what looked like little effort. Lohen's hands flew to the silver hair to hold onto something to control the feeling of unstable balance, even though he bet that Illuga had everything under control. He looked below him in shock because 'What the fuck- I knew he was strong already, hell, I felt those muscles firsthand, but huh??? How does he do this?!' and his wide eyes were met with Illuga’s lidded ones. His face was right there at his mid-section, but he was focused on Lohen's face, blindly navigating through his house and somehow not bumping into anything. He got just a little disoriented when Illuga twisted his body to the side, but that was because they'd reached a door and Illuga had to open it. He twisted back, and they entered a dark room. The dim light flicked on, and before Lohen knew it, he was dropped onto the bed in the room. The bed creaked under his sudden full weight, and he almost choked on his own spit in shock, but it was all good when Illuga crawled on top of him with a look in his eyes that was already devouring him.
"I'll help you turn in early, since you want to so badly." Illuga said before he dove down.
And as they kissed, Lohen knew that he wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon, but hey, at least he got Illuga away from his work, right?