Hm, no. [Prior cants his head, considering Dorian's first statement before simply rejecting it, with a smile sweet as can be. He leans down to dot a kiss to Dorian's lips and doesn't straighten back up, the sharp curl of his mouth shameless.] Not your looks alone.
[His own hands robbed of their occupation, his fingers run over Dorian's wrists as they work his belt loose, circling tighter when the work's done and pushing one of his hands lower.]
Oh, it was always you. I had assumed you were unattainable by that point, and the mind ran away with such things...
[He cuts himself off with a kiss of his own, much greedier by it being longer and deeper than the last. With or without Prior's help, he would have ventured further, fingers dipping under his waistband to wrap around his cock. The stroke his hand afterward, however, is abysmally slow. It was his turn to smile something wicked.]
[Then they're a match for wickedess, though Prior's comes with some foreknowledge that it's going to take Dorian a little longer than he expects to catch up on.]
You may want to brace that wrist.
[And jaw, if it comes to that. When it comes to that. Prior's good in bed but not especially generous in it, though Dorian's fantasies aren't far off the mark - there's a hand wrapped tight in his hair through most of Prior's breathy don't stops. All Dorian's eagerness to please is a fine complement for Prior's knowledge of what pleases him, though there's turnabout too: a slow learning of what makes Dorian give in to his own pleasures and a merciless abuse of them to watch him come undone.
Afterwards, Prior's in no rush to peel his body away. He's been pressed close since Dorian cajoled him into stripping off his shirt (it's my lucky shirt - it's a shirt I'm getting lucky in, same thing) but he's not just hiding now. He's exhausted, don't make him move.
his voice is a lazy drawl, warm and sticky as the rest of him, interrupted by kisses along Dorian's shoulder.]
I have to admit, you're quite the judge of character. You certainly had me down. Unattainable...
Unattainable... [For all that Dorian has an extensive vocabulary, all he can do in the moment is repeat it with a breathy laugh. If Prior is exhausted, Dorian doesn't know what he is. Judge of character, yes. Judge of stamina, no.
He's also rather blissed out, give him a moment. He traces his fingers in no particular pattern along Prior's back, smile ever present on his face.] I'd say you surpassed expectations, but I must admit I never thought we'd end up here.
No, you thought we'd end up on the kitchen table. [Prior ends his exploratory trail with a catch of teeth against Dorian's skin, a sweet sting, then tips his head back just enough to look up at him - a view marked out by the terrain of his jawline.] I still don't know what made you think I was in some kind of ivory tower. Granted, I'm not picking strangers up in the park anymore, I can't quite do casual anymore, but I hadn't put myself out of commission yet.
You are beautiful enough to be locked away in a tower. [Dorian says, though he shoots him a sardonic look for what surely will leave a mark. He rolls the shoulder, then rests his hand at the small of his back.] With the twist of being a terribly wicked thing when anyone comes to save you. No, it was simply... the casual part, I suppose.
[A beat. His smile falters.] Not that this... is, or isn't, it's whatever you'd like to call it. I just—no one that I've bedded... wants anything but a small affair.
[It had better leave a mark, or Prior's going to be left with no choice but to try again, somewhere more visible.
He arches against the supporting strut of Dorian's palm at his back, pulling the sheets up between them only half consciously, a little too aware of himself even now. But that's not his focus, which can't even be waylaid by the prospect of telling Dorian he's hardly a small affair. A tragedy, since he left it so open.]
[The combination of the the three - the slightest withdrawal, the damper of the mood by his own blunder, the question - is enough for his falter to twist into a full blown frown. He swallows, his fingers curling in to his palm.]
I'd rather not make any assumptions of what you want.
[And that's not acceptable, that frown. Prior scowls at it, walking a step-kick line with his fingertips that begins at Dorian's closed fist and - taking in the sights of elbow and bicep, with a significant detour up the pulse point at his throat - presses a thumbprint to the corner of his lips. No, it won't do.]
You don't have to assume anything I want to tell me what you do. It's a risk, I suppose, but you've walked into battles with your hands on fire, you can't be averse to those.
That comes more naturally than this, you know. One of them makes you look like a dashing hero, the other makes you look like a bumbling fool. Of course, you could look it anyway, if you set the wrong thing ablaze, but...
[He trails off before he can prattle on, mustering up a smile in some attempt to lighten the mood.]
I know that any time we've spent together wasn't just to get you into bed. Not that it isn't a wonderful side benefit that you are, and I wouldn't have you again if you ever called, but... I like you, Prior. I understand if you're sated, and things will go back to have they've been, but I'd prefer if they didn't.
[For tonight. He couldn't go again after a night like that if he was fifteen and still capable of olympic grade masturbation, good grief. It's not what Dorian means, of course, and of course Prior knows that - it just makes him a little crazy how easily Dorian thinks he could be dismissed. Understandable, given the history they briefly toured through, but absurd all the same, to anyone that can have known him half a minute. All that showy armor, all that showy bravado, all to hide the vulnerable parts underneath.
Prior sighs, and affects a tone both grave and final.] But things can't go back to how they were.
[A beat, before the stone cracks, his mouth twitching.]
It would take steel I don't have to walk behind you in future and act like I'm not thinking I could knock myself out bouncing a quarter off your ass. I mean, my god.
[And the veneer's shattered now, Prior clutching both hands to his chest, playacting some kind of mix of awe and horror. And then Dorian's getting both arms full of him, if he's amenable. Finally willing to answer with something honest.]
It's certainly more than a casual interest, for me. More than sex. Though that's a sideline I'd be sad to have to give up.
[Dorian can appreciate a variety of different tones - it makes the matter less serious, puts him less on the spot, softens what might be an inevitable blow. But that blow, that disappointment, as familiar as it is painful, doesn't come.
He manages more of a grin than a grim smile, the tension threatening to build in his shoulders leaves him. Enough to comfortable taking Prior into his arms.]
That isn't how you walk behind me already? I don't know if my pride can recover. Perhaps this was all a mistake.
[He might have reacted badly, if some part of him weren't already waiting to hear it. Thank the Maker he's not an idiot. Instead, he occupies himself with running his fingers through Prior's hair.]
This is the part where you tell me you've been having a roommate romance, and I scold you for not telling me.
Well there's no point now, you've stolen all my thunder.
[It's unlikely Prior would be here if he didn't suspect Dorian already knew. He doesn't hide things well, apparently. A shame, he could have been some hot-shot Republican lawyer right now, if he did.]
It's true. Miles just showed up with that forehead hunch he gets when he's thinking, and clothes from the juniors department, and stole my heart.
[Still not sure of Dorian's feelings (how he hates the word fine, let him count the ways) there's some hesitation before going on, as he tries to tread carefully around them.]
Though we do make quite the triple threat, don't we? All of us the disgraced scions of some ancient name. If I'd known that was my type I could have hooked up with that one cousin no one likes to talk about.
[He chuckles, at least. It's halfhearted, but not dismissive at it could be.]
Is it truly a surprise, or are you purposely scraping from the bottom of the barrel in terms of our pasts? [He takes a breath, looking ahead into the darkness of the room.] ... I consider Byerly my friend. And Maker knows there isn't anything I could keep from him if I wanted to.
Well damn, that ruins my next shopping trip. If one must keep an illicit secret, one should do it in style. La femme fatale: dark glasses, a wide brimmed hat. Some sort of exotic accent, too.
[Talking nonsense is certainly easier than speaking truth, but it only runs for so long. Prior sighs and presses his forehead to Dorian's shoulder.]
I'll tell him - I always would. At any rate, it's hardly a monogamous arrangement.
[It has been, on Prior's part, but not by any stated expectation. And Byerly - well, he's Byerly. Prior hasn't asked that he change.]
And that's hardly a surprise. I may have been more shocked by you telling me the sky is blue.
[He leans his head against the top of his, biting his lip. In truth, the longer he stews on the two of them, the more paranoid he is of intruding. Not overwhelmingly so - he's quite calm, really, but enough to clear his throat.]
Mm. [Prior bites his lip, fastening his hands into Dorians.] Mmhm.
[Barely a mumble but there's something softly pleased and - surprised - to it.]
Do you know, I was about to say I think so, to make it softer. For me, or you, or him I don't know. Isn't it terrible how afraid we all are of what we feel. Yes, I do.
[Why should his hand get all the action. Prior leans in to kiss Dorian's cheek in return.]
Love isn't the monolith people think. Not something set in stone after a few months. It has a kind of flux. It moves, changes its form. Expands, if you let it.
[All of which is to say-]
...I don't think Byerly can complain about me falling for you when he fell for you first. Still isn't back up off the ground.
I am insulted. I'm a prophet, Dorian, a soothsayer. We don't speak lightly. When we speak at all - which we only do to a chosen few of whom you should consider yourself honored to be counted among - we speak sooth. Which is to say, truth.
[Bullshit, but if he's cursed with this thing he should be able to play it in his favor now and again.]
I can reach into the vast infinities of the world and pluck a few glittering threads out of the weft. Case in point: you fell for him too.
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[His own hands robbed of their occupation, his fingers run over Dorian's wrists as they work his belt loose, circling tighter when the work's done and pushing one of his hands lower.]
But really? And which of us was the cruel one?
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[He cuts himself off with a kiss of his own, much greedier by it being longer and deeper than the last. With or without Prior's help, he would have ventured further, fingers dipping under his waistband to wrap around his cock. The stroke his hand afterward, however, is abysmally slow. It was his turn to smile something wicked.]
I can be the cruel one, if you like.
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[Then they're a match for wickedess, though Prior's comes with some foreknowledge that it's going to take Dorian a little longer than he expects to catch up on.]
You may want to brace that wrist.
[And jaw, if it comes to that. When it comes to that. Prior's good in bed but not especially generous in it, though Dorian's fantasies aren't far off the mark - there's a hand wrapped tight in his hair through most of Prior's breathy don't stops. All Dorian's eagerness to please is a fine complement for Prior's knowledge of what pleases him, though there's turnabout too: a slow learning of what makes Dorian give in to his own pleasures and a merciless abuse of them to watch him come undone.
Afterwards, Prior's in no rush to peel his body away. He's been pressed close since Dorian cajoled him into stripping off his shirt (it's my lucky shirt - it's a shirt I'm getting lucky in, same thing) but he's not just hiding now. He's exhausted, don't make him move.
his voice is a lazy drawl, warm and sticky as the rest of him, interrupted by kisses along Dorian's shoulder.]
I have to admit, you're quite the judge of character. You certainly had me down. Unattainable...
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He's also rather blissed out, give him a moment. He traces his fingers in no particular pattern along Prior's back, smile ever present on his face.] I'd say you surpassed expectations, but I must admit I never thought we'd end up here.
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[A beat. His smile falters.] Not that this... is, or isn't, it's whatever you'd like to call it. I just—no one that I've bedded... wants anything but a small affair.
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He arches against the supporting strut of Dorian's palm at his back, pulling the sheets up between them only half consciously, a little too aware of himself even now. But that's not his focus, which can't even be waylaid by the prospect of telling Dorian he's hardly a small affair. A tragedy, since he left it so open.]
Why is it whatever I'd like to call it?
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I'd rather not make any assumptions of what you want.
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You don't have to assume anything I want to tell me what you do. It's a risk, I suppose, but you've walked into battles with your hands on fire, you can't be averse to those.
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[He trails off before he can prattle on, mustering up a smile in some attempt to lighten the mood.]
I know that any time we've spent together wasn't just to get you into bed. Not that it isn't a wonderful side benefit that you are, and I wouldn't have you again if you ever called, but... I like you, Prior. I understand if you're sated, and things will go back to have they've been, but I'd prefer if they didn't.
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[For tonight. He couldn't go again after a night like that if he was fifteen and still capable of olympic grade masturbation, good grief. It's not what Dorian means, of course, and of course Prior knows that - it just makes him a little crazy how easily Dorian thinks he could be dismissed. Understandable, given the history they briefly toured through, but absurd all the same, to anyone that can have known him half a minute. All that showy armor, all that showy bravado, all to hide the vulnerable parts underneath.
Prior sighs, and affects a tone both grave and final.] But things can't go back to how they were.
[A beat, before the stone cracks, his mouth twitching.]
It would take steel I don't have to walk behind you in future and act like I'm not thinking I could knock myself out bouncing a quarter off your ass. I mean, my god.
[And the veneer's shattered now, Prior clutching both hands to his chest, playacting some kind of mix of awe and horror. And then Dorian's getting both arms full of him, if he's amenable. Finally willing to answer with something honest.]
It's certainly more than a casual interest, for me. More than sex. Though that's a sideline I'd be sad to have to give up.
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He manages more of a grin than a grim smile, the tension threatening to build in his shoulders leaves him. Enough to comfortable taking Prior into his arms.]
That isn't how you walk behind me already? I don't know if my pride can recover. Perhaps this was all a mistake.
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[See also: settling against Dorian as comfortably as a favorite spot on the couch.]
There is something else. [Mm, or more than that. He keeps the correction light-] Or, someone?
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This is the part where you tell me you've been having a roommate romance, and I scold you for not telling me.
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[It's unlikely Prior would be here if he didn't suspect Dorian already knew. He doesn't hide things well, apparently. A shame, he could have been some hot-shot Republican lawyer right now, if he did.]
It's true. Miles just showed up with that forehead hunch he gets when he's thinking, and clothes from the juniors department, and stole my heart.
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Oh, I was never a match for him. His frail little body strikes such a figure, Emperor and all...
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[Still not sure of Dorian's feelings (how he hates the word fine, let him count the ways) there's some hesitation before going on, as he tries to tread carefully around them.]
Though we do make quite the triple threat, don't we? All of us the disgraced scions of some ancient name. If I'd known that was my type I could have hooked up with that one cousin no one likes to talk about.
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Is it truly a surprise, or are you purposely scraping from the bottom of the barrel in terms of our pasts? [He takes a breath, looking ahead into the darkness of the room.] ... I consider Byerly my friend. And Maker knows there isn't anything I could keep from him if I wanted to.
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[Talking nonsense is certainly easier than speaking truth, but it only runs for so long. Prior sighs and presses his forehead to Dorian's shoulder.]
I'll tell him - I always would. At any rate, it's hardly a monogamous arrangement.
[It has been, on Prior's part, but not by any stated expectation. And Byerly - well, he's Byerly. Prior hasn't asked that he change.]
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[He leans his head against the top of his, biting his lip. In truth, the longer he stews on the two of them, the more paranoid he is of intruding. Not overwhelmingly so - he's quite calm, really, but enough to clear his throat.]
Do you love him?
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[Barely a mumble but there's something softly pleased and - surprised - to it.]
Do you know, I was about to say I think so, to make it softer. For me, or you, or him I don't know. Isn't it terrible how afraid we all are of what we feel. Yes, I do.
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And what a wonderful thing it is that you can say that. Truly.
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Love isn't the monolith people think. Not something set in stone after a few months. It has a kind of flux. It moves, changes its form. Expands, if you let it.
[All of which is to say-]
...I don't think Byerly can complain about me falling for you when he fell for you first. Still isn't back up off the ground.
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Don’t be absurd. That man never fell for me. You shouldn’t say such things so lightly, Prior- you needn’t indulge me.
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I am insulted. I'm a prophet, Dorian, a soothsayer. We don't speak lightly. When we speak at all - which we only do to a chosen few of whom you should consider yourself honored to be counted among - we speak sooth. Which is to say, truth.
[Bullshit, but if he's cursed with this thing he should be able to play it in his favor now and again.]
I can reach into the vast infinities of the world and pluck a few glittering threads out of the weft. Case in point: you fell for him too.
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