A Familiar Face

[Existentially Odd]

He came at night because he was still, at heart, a romantic.  Also, because he believed that his royal highness, King Mayhew Kestrel, would be more inclined to take notice of someone requesting his audience when most decent folk were holed up in their homes, doing their darning by the fire or yelling at restless children to go to sleep, else there would be no gifts tied to the Festival tree\'s branches for them.

He\'d headed back for Oberon the second he\'d heard the news of the previous king\'s passing, knowing that there was much in store for the likes of him there, now that the tables had turned.  He\'d had to go back to whoring to make his way but now, with a warm light shining through the darkness - so to speak - he knew those days were done.

Even making haste, it had taken him moons to get from the hole he\'d ended up hiding in, back to the city he knew.  His mother, the thankless bitch, turned her nose up at him when he requested asylum and slammed the door of his own home in his face.  It hadn\'t taken her long to infest his classy little hovel with her stench and his cherubs were scattered to the four winds; with Talon\'s bite full upon the city and the best of work available, too.

Still, Phinneus consoled himself with the thought that he would have better, do better, be better than all the likes of them, once he was seen as a familiar face.  No-one knew of his secret, for he\'d managed to keep his loose tongue tied on that score (being driven out of the city before he could reveal the grandness of his coup had helped, mind), so wouldn\'t they all fall about in shock when they saw him swathed in pretty robes and housed in the palace itself?  He hoped his mother fainted dead from shock, the sleazy tart.

He\'d prepared himself as best he could for this night.  His clothes were tatty beneath his fine black cloak, his face more gaunt than when Hew had seen him last, for his food had not come nearly as regularly these past many moons, so his square jaw was now extremely pronounced.  His face was unshaven, rough stubble covering his cheeks and chin and there were dark crescents beneath his eyes (mostly because he\'d slept in gutters the past two nights he\'d been back, since none would touch nor trust one such as him - they all knew him to be a wanted scoundrel and believed themselves in danger should they be found hiding his likes).

Walking up to the gates of the palace had been hard; every fibre of his being twitched for him to run when the patrolling guards looked curiously at him, but he wasn\'t stopped.  There was an open policy of welcome in the new king\'s governing of his home and Phinn was counting on it as a way to get in.  Of course, if that red-headed wench sighted him and recognised him, he didn\'t think he\'d be so lucky, but he\'d heard rumours that the old captain was nursing her own misery - a dead husband and a new babe - so he didn\'t think he\'d have too much trouble from her tonight.

Keeping his cowl up all the same (to hide the desperate look of him beneath the pristine black), he knocked on the door and was sure to keep to the shadows when it was opened.  Using his best noble accent (for he\'d trained it into himself while away, having little else to do with his nights besides listen to nobles moan while he was down on his knees between theirs), he spoke in relaxed and mellow tones - as if he had every right to be there, even if it was just after nightfall and their royal majesties (for he\'d heard about the bitch bride... oh yes, he had... but he didn\'t foresee some foreign-born tartlet being a problem for him) were likely just settling down to their supper.

"Please tell His Highness that Albert Phinneus would like just a moment of his time, if you would.  I\'m newly returned to the city and would like to see a familiar face - oh, and to pass on my commiserations, of course," he added hastily, his accent slipping slightly when he rushed his wording.

It brought only a minor frown to the forehead of the page who\'d greeted the cloaked figure at the door, but he invited him in to take a seat in one of the plush waiting chairs in an ante room just off the foyer, promising to deliver his message anyway.  Bowing out of the small greeting room, the page then passed the standing guards and went in search of King Kestrel, expecting he would deliver the visitor\'s message and be given one to return to him, but that the man would get no further this night.  Very few of the visitors ever did because there\'d been so many of them since King Morgan died, a veritable army had marched through the palace doors wishing to give the Prince-cum-King their condolences. Only a handful had found an audience in all that time.

Upon finding King Mayhew, the page bowed formally with a click of his heels and delivered Phinneus\' message verbatim before straightening up, a bland expression upon his face as he waited for the order to send the man away at such an ungainly hour - with a polite message of thanks, as was the king\'s custom.

[Trillian]

He was eating supper with his Queen, still unused to the new titles bestowed them even though there\'d been a coronation and hectic schedule thrust upon him.  His mother, unable to properly support her newly crowned son while grieving for her husband, wished him well and told him to listen to his Advisors before taking the twins with her to their retreat far north - a six day carriage ride to a quiet estate away from the hustle of Oberon and in the country with only a few servants to assist her.
 
He had very little time for Rochelle but she had her own responsibilities thrust upon her.  As a princess she\'d been a diplomat, but as a queen she found she had to be a constant host to visitors who seemed to be coming from everywhere in order to visit the castle to both congratulate the new King and Queen while also passing their condolences.  When they went to bed it was often separately (usually Hew would be up much later) and he was often too tired to wake his wife.  They\'d shared one night of passion before their coronation and that had been all, though Rochelle seemed satisfied with this so far, knowing that there were large responsibilities to be met before they settled down.  She was kind, she was reasonable, and Hew took advantage of this and often ignored his husbandly duties.
 
There had been shows of affection between them, and they spent time together, though rarely in solitude.  There was a quelling of rumours about his lack of desire for his pretty wife, for he kissed her cheek and held her hand, and they would share not-so-secret smiles with one another that the company around them noted and commented on.  Talk of a potential child to bless the newlyweds began to battle the gossip that the King wasn\'t interested in women.  It seemed Oberon was divided on that front.
 
With the news of Phinneus arriving to visit, however, that might change, but Hew was unaware and uncaring of the hushed talk between servants and nobles alike.  Gossip was gossip and he didn\'t care enough about the rumour mill to watch his behaviour.  He did, however, know that it would be extremely unusual to interrupt his meal in order to see a man who was visiting him at night, but he also didn\'t want to send Phinn away.
 
He was reeling from the news, knowing that the page was standing before him, waiting to be told what to do while Hew had a half-eaten plate of food before him that he no longer had an appetite for.  Butterflies were whipping a frenzied hurricane in his stomach and his legs felt weak.  He didn\'t trust himself to stand, nor his hands not to shake, so they put the cutlery down quietly before being pressed onto the table to not give their trembling away.  Around him conversation continued, but it had quietened immediately to his left and right.
 
He instructed the page to assign his visitor into a guest room and to cater for him; supper, a bath, and any other requests he might have.  He didn\'t think it would be appropriate to leave the table to greet his guest, and quite frankly he didn\'t feel ready to see Phinn right now.  The page repeated back his order, Hew nodded and then the lad disappeared to fulfill it.  Hew lost his appetite after that from nerves, but forced himself to finish his meal regardless, and even though he was aching to visit Phinn, he couldn\'t bring himself to and went to his own bed instead, waking Rochelle when he moved under the covers with her and surprising her with renewed desire to revisit their passionate night.  He spilled his seed inside of her at the end, and only afterward did he wonder if that was a wise thing to do, unaware of how fertile she was to know if she would fall pregnant or not.
 
He stayed away from Phinn\'s room regardless of any requests that might have come to him.  It took him four nights to work up the courage, and finally, with Rochelle already in bed and Hew dismissing his servants so that he could join her, he headed in the opposite direction instead and knocked softly on Phinn\'s door, feeling the butterflies in his gut whirlwinding again and no longer having the confidence of a King, but becoming moreso a shy young boy, unsure of his place.

[Existentially Odd]

Phinneus had taken full advantage of his entry into the palace and the relaying of Hew\'s command that he be taken care of at his own will.  He\'d been bathed, pampered, shaved and cossetted extensively over the past few days, having no qualms in requesting barbers or tailors to make him look his best.  When his door was finally knocked on, he answered it wearing shiny black leather shoes, pristine white stockings, blue velvet pantaloons and matching embroidered vest with a long-sleeved white shirt beneath, that sported frills and lace at the cuffs and collar.

His face was smooth, his hair short, clean and combed back from his mischievous face; there was a twinkle in his eyes that he hadn\'t sported for far too long, in fact, and it only flared when he caught sight of who was at his door.  Instinctively, he looked up and down the corridor beyond the king, to see that there were no witnesses to this visit, before he grabbed the boy\'s hand and yanked him inside.  He gave the door a shove behind Hew and hastily grasped his pretty face in both hands, gazing at it a moment with nothing to say beyond a broad, grateful smile, before he leaned down and tried to kiss the new regent in a passionate and thoroughly inappropriate manner.

[Trillian]

Seeing Phinn again brought a response to him that he hadn\'t counted on.  He\'d meant to bid him a polite greeting, to not expect that they would pick up where they\'d left off, in case Phinn was only here to congratulate him and possibly extort money from the treasury.  He felt like a heel, doubting his first lover, but his eyes had been open when he\'d first met him, and now he wasn\'t sure why he\'d returned - if it was for him or something else.

When he was pulled inside and the door slammed after him, his first initial feeling about seeing Phinn came rushing back; the love he\'d felt, the obsession he\'d had with him and the desire to regain what he\'d lost.  When Phinn kissed him, his eyes closed and his arms lifted to wrap around his lover - who\'d been run out of town by an angry father and responsible for a marriage that had started out as a sham and evolved into something pleasant.  When he was with Phinn, kissing him and pressing against him, nothing else mattered, though the kiss broke (and he thought it had been Phinn to break it but it had been him moving his head down and away) and he sought to cuddle Phinn instead.

"I\'ve missed you," he admitted readily, grateful and relieved to finally be in Phinn\'s hold, but feeling a conflict within him that he couldn\'t quite push away also.  It wasn\'t strong enough to move away from his past lover, yet.

[Existentially Odd]

"Oh, Hew-lad, not half as much as I\'ve missed you," the street lord breathed, holding the boy as close as possible without physically squeezing breath out of him.  "I\'m sorry about your da - but glad, too, because it meant I could come back to y\'," he whispered, stroking Hew\'s lovely brown curls - much tamer, now that he was the monarch, he noticed - and resting his cheek against his head.
 
"Y\'ve got taller," he said with an awed little laugh, realising that he was no longer resting his cheek on the top of Hew\'s head.  "Is that what the responsibility\'s doin\' to y\'then?"

[Trillian]

"I don\'t feel like I\'ve got control over anything," Hew confessed, leaning against Phinn\'s shoulder in the nook, also noticing that he was taller but feeling smaller and more insignificant than he should be, being King.  "Everything\'s just sort of... running the same way as it was.  I\'m so glad you\'re back.  I feel like I can think clearer, in your arms," he lifted his face to nuzzle his nose against Phinn\'s neck before pressing his lips there.
 
There was another confession to make, even though he knew Phinn already knew, but it was something that needed to be said between them.
 
"I\'m married, now," he said, though he didn\'t pull away or act like a married man should.  He felt like he\'d had nothing around him for himself, it seemed being Prince and then King he\'d had to do everything for others.  First for his father and mother, then for his wife, for the castle, for the country and for appearance\'s sake.  This time he wanted to be selfish.  He wanted Phinn close.

[Existentially Odd]

Snorting indelicately, Phinn pulled back enough so that he could grasp Hew\'s face in between his hands and stare directly into his eyes.  "I don\'t care," he said plainly, "she can\'t love you like I love you and she can\'t know you like I know you," he growled, letting his hand drop to caress Hew\'s neck and then his face, the look in his eye becoming distant.
 
"What trials has she had to endure, being apart from you?  How many nights has she found herself miserable in the company of strangers, because if she dared venture back to where her heart lay, she\'d pay for the price of it with her life?  Has she lost her home, the only family she had, the respect and trust of her peers, simply because she left Oberon in a storm of controversy?  No," he finished adamantly, squeezing Hew\'s face.  "She knows nought o\'what I\'ve endured to return to y\', so she don\'t exist t\'me.  Only you do; you an\' me; that\'s what matters, right?"
 
His last words were injected with a raw hope, as if he feared that Hew\'s feelings might have changed after so long apart.  In truth, he did want reassurance, for he\'d lost far more of his life than he\'d originally thought he would, when he\'d invested so much effort into the then-crown prince.  Leaving Oberon had been necessary but coming back was the gamble of his life; he desired grand payouts and copious amounts of spoilery to have all that he\'d lost made up to him.  In short, Hew owed him and he was banking on the kid\'s feelings to get his desserts.  If they\'d changed in the slightest, Phinn needed to know exactly how and where he should step up his game in order to restore his former altered position (bitch queen be damned).

[Trillian]

Attacking Rochelle\'s love and devotion to Hew was not the right path for Phinn to take.  She\'d won him over in such a way, to show her strength in the face of his cruelty until finally he\'d realised he\'d been extremely lucky to be paired off with her and not something mindless.
 
What trials had Roche had to endure indeed, except to be ripped out of her warm family surroundings and placed into Oberon where she\'d had to endure a husband who wanted nothing to do with her and constant pressure to seduce him.  First she\'d captured the heart of Oberon (in a way he\'d never managed) and then his own.
 
Instead of reassuring Phinn, without realising that was what his lover had been seeking, he pulled back and frowned at him.
 
"I didn\'t make it easy for her," he said, defending his wife without realising he was doing so.  When he looked back at Phinn, there was something in his eyes that made him add to his comment.  "But she\'ll never have the love from me I had for you," he said, feeling his throat tighten like he was about to cry, even though he didn\'t feel like crying.  It was a strange sensation, not entirely pleasant, but there was nothing unpleasant about being with Phinn, so he didn\'t understand it.

[Existentially Odd]

Being the skilled actor he was, Phinneus\' face crumpled with a misery so intense upon hearing such words that he hugged himself and gave a very good impression of holding back tears.  The panic fluttering at his throat like a caged bird not resigned to its fate was inspiration enough to make his emotions appear deep and genuine.
 
"Had for me?" he repeated hollowly, stressing the past tense word that Hew had used.  If the young king had fallen out of love with him, his plans to rule the palace from his bedroom would be seriously compromised; he would need to work a great deal harder to regain his former position, then.  It was good to know this now, however, for if he had to take delicate steps to win his rightful position, he could do that - there was nothing he couldn\'t do, if he put his mind to it.
 
It would just mean that he would need to retrace the gentle, wooing steps of when he first met young Hew, scrapping with his cherubs in the street over a filthy ball he held no great desire for.  Phinn would do that, it might even be a pleasant, sweet journey of reminiscence for him.  Talon knew he\'d had nothing so clean or pretty in his bed for many moons.

[Trillian]

He only realised his wording when Phinn accentuated it, bringing it to his attention.  Devastated, but unable to correct himself so that Phinn would believe him, he realised he\'d said the truth without thinking.  The only thing left was to explain himself.  As Phinn looked woundedly at him, he also felt the hurt on his own face, but it was more a sorrow for what they\'d lost.

"I never believed you\'d be back," Hew told him.  "I lost you, thought you were gone forever, and after... after feeling like I\'d died inside, I had to try and get over you and I thought maybe I was, but... seeing you here now, I know in my heart I still love you.  It\'s just, it\'s been a long time."

He remained standing before Phinn, feeling like he was asking forgiveness for what he\'d just confessed, and it would be up to Phinn to embrace him again.  Looking at him now, it was very easy to remember everything they\'d done, and even though it was inappropriate to think of such things, his mind couldn\'t help but return to a time when they\'d found pleasure naked in Phinn\'s bed, both working toward climax.  It was enough to stir his body and forced him to look away lest he become fully erect.

[Existentially Odd]

"A long time," Phinn repeated in a hollow whisper, reaching forward to caress Hew\'s cheek and comb his fingers up and through his soft curls reverently.

His gaze slid to watch his hand, rather than look in the boy\'s eye - as if it was too painful to meet his doe-like gaze, suddenly.  When the former street king spoke, his voice was wistful with a very calculated amount of sad and hopeful.

"Too long?  Is there no longer a place f\'r me in thy life, e\'en if I still reside in yon heart?"

[Trillian]

The touch on his face and then his hair was electric, a pleasant shock travelling along his spine and causing him to close his eyes and breathe out.  He\'d only meant for a sigh at most but what came out was a soft moan.
 
What Phinn said caused him to open his eyes in alarm, and not making eye contact with his past lover made him worry even more.
 
"There\'s always room for you!" he said urgently, reaching up to touch Phinn\'s face in order to force him to make eye contact.  "In my heart, in my life, I\'ll always want you with me."
 
Impulsively, he made a decision that would fix Phinn into the palace as a permanent fixture.
 
"Be my advisor," he prompted, wanting Phinn to agree.  "You always had an opinion worthy of being heard.  I want to hear what you think about things that are presented to me.  I want you by my side."

[Existentially Odd]

"By your side?" he repeated, the hope lifting his tone as he looked back into Hew\'s eyes.  A slow smile spread across his handsome face and he tilted his head so that his cheek was pressed into the king\'s hand, turning to nuzzle it with his lips as he appeared to give the offer some thought (as if it needed it).

"Yes," he then said, his voice suffused with the quiet joy that young ladies whose hands have just been requested get.  "I think that that will be perfect," he grinned, thinking that even the bitch queen wouldn\'t get to be at her husband\'s side during matters of business, yet he would.

King\'s Advisor.  No longer king of the scum heap, but advisor to the ruler of the land, holder of his heart and, when occasion allowed it, his very royal ass whenever Phinn could help it.  It would cement their relationship and assure him his position, after all.

To that end, when he finished speaking, he reached up with his other hand and cupped Hew\'s face in his hands, leaning in to kiss him passionately.  He meant to revive the lust and servitude he\'d left behind him, right then and there, and walked the boy back until he was pressed against the door, leaning into his youthful excellence in a manner that left no doubt what he wanted next.

[Trillian]

Seeing Phinn\'s eyes light up at the offer before it was accepted made Hew\'s heart swell with love and pride that he\'d managed to please him.  It took him back to the memory of sneaking into Phinn\'s room, of presenting himself to the street lord and winning his favour first with the things he said and then with the acts they did.

Being walked back into the wall helped him forget where he was right now, who he was right now, all his problems and concerns disappearing under the weight of Phinn\'s kisses which he returned with the same passion.  It was a kind of time travel, back to the days when he\'d had no responsibilities beyond a little bit of study (which he\'d already done), and he\'d pretended not to be a prince but a street urchin playing ball with his friends.

He could feel Phinn\'s enthusiasm for him pressing against him with heat, burning a brand from his inner thigh to his hip, which he shifted against and rubbed with his own fattened erection.  He had to breathe and broke the kiss for a few gasps of air before hunting for Phinn\'s lips again, not wanting to break any contact for too long.  His hands sought to stroke Phinn\'s back, his sides, his shoulders, his hair, exploring the clothed body of a man he\'d lain with while remembering the flesh beneath.  He remembered enough for a hand to steal against Phinn\'s chest, burrowing and claiming space in their upper bodies between them, so he could latch onto a nipple through Phinn\'s silken top and clamp his fingers onto it with a short painful twist the way he knew excited him.

[Existentially Odd]

Phinn flinched backwards, sucking in a gasp of surprise through his teeth, his blue eyes darkening as he regarded Hew through pupils greatly dilated with desire.

"Why, my lord," he growled, a slow and yearning smile growing on his kiss-reddened lips, "I\'m touched you remembered.  How about we see just how much else ye\' recall since I been gone, eh?" he challenged, his hand pushing down Hew\'s pants eagerly.

Training the boy at such a tender age certainly had untold benefits, he saw now; it meant that not all the time he spent with Hew was work.