Give your heart and soul to charity, cause the rest of you, the best of you, honey, belongs to me

[ausgebrannt]

'Will you meet me at the dance hall this evening? After your classes are concluded?'

Caleb had been only slightly surprised by the invitation from Essek. It wasn't rare for one or the other of them to propose some outing or another -- dates, they were dates, because in this unlikely but treasured domesticity that they'd carved out for themselves, they could go on dates and other purposefully romantic activities -- though when it came to dancing, he was more often the one to offer that idea. Still, there wasn't even a shadow of a chance that he would have said no or otherwise demurred. An excuse to have the drow, in disguise as Cobalt Soul librarian or otherwise, in his arms? Caleb was in favor.

So perhaps he'd made a point of dressing for the evening, of tying ginger hair back at the nape of his neck with a satin ribbon in a very particular shade of lavender. Perhaps more than one of his students had commented on the fact that Professor Widogast looked more dressed up than usual, something that he demurred on and shifted topic pointedly to the lessons.

When classes were done, and the last of his work wrapped up well enough, he slipped his coat on -- spared a moment to unfasten the buttons at the collar of his shirt just enough so the slightest bit of chest hair was juuuuust visible, given that by now he had come to understand that Essek was fond of that particular feature. With that he made his way to the dance hall.

Inside the door, he let his gaze sweep the crowd looking for the familiar visage of his partner. But then, he was perhaps a bit earlier than Essek may have expected, given the poorly disguised eagerness to get here. But this was also fine. Caleb would abide, settling himself by the bar and ordering a drink while he waited.

"Bren?"

Caleb stood straighter in surprise at the familiar voice, turning to find himself face to face with not only one equally familiar face, but two. He half started to gently correct the Bren piece, but decided it was not worth it in the end. "Wulf, Astrid." A small smile in greeting at his former lovers-in-arms. "What a surprise to see you here." For Caleb anyway.

Comments

[zauberdecke]

Essek was not to be deterred, of course he was not. Caleb had made his own decisions, and that same decision had informed Caleb to protect him before he protected anyone else, not to mention that he trusted Caleb, trusted him to know exactly whom he belonged to.. and who belonged to him. That was how Essek glanced to Caleb's profile, caught the way the lights caught him just right.. the man he loved right here and now.

"As I trust my partner implicitly, you may have him for a dance or two that is if he wishes to dance with you." he very carefully smoothed down Caleb's collar, fingers lightly dancing against the collarbone. "I do not own him, he can make his own decisions-- but he has to give his implicit consent to it."

Despite his distaste of the Volstruckers standing before him, he was not jealous of what they had with 'Bren'; what he was petty about was their treatment of him. "I suppose that is the true test of that who he was once was and that which he is now."

[ausgebrannt]

Caleb's decision was Essek, and it was a decision as easy to make as taking a breath. He looked over at Essek at those words of trust. He caught those fingers in his own, lifting them to his lips to brush a kiss there. It was testament to how far he had come that he could give and accept affection so easily, how many wounds had been healed by the path he'd traveled. By the Nein and the power of friendship. By Essek Thelyss and the power of finding his heart's and mind's and soul's match.

His eyebrows lifted slightly at the I do not own him because, well, arguably, all of him did indeed belong to Essek. But he appreciated the sentiment still. "Perhaps later. I have been waiting since this morning to dance with Es...Seth."

Good job, Widogast. Stop making eyes at your boyfriend and remember the cover stories. "Shall we, Schatz?"

[zauberdecke]

"Perhaps later." Essek managed to echo even as he curled his fingers through Caleb's own hand, giving it a soft squeeze, palm to palm and digits to digits and then he inclined his head rather graciously toward Astrid and Eadwulf before he indicated the dance floor to Caleb. "I did invite my partner here to dance, so I shall cherish every moment that he is in my arms." and then with that he very lightly tugged on Caleb's fingers, toward the floor where there were dancing couples.

This reminded him of the first time they had danced, it had been when Caleb had not known who he was-- had just known him as Seth. And now look at them, together like this. "Come, Chathtiu..."

That would perhaps cause a sharpening, that is if Astrid and Eadwulf were familiar enough with Undercommon. But perhaps they were not, especially not with the endearments of the language.

[ausgebrannt]

It was Astrid who caught that unfamiliar word and it turned over in her head for a moment before it clicked into place. At the Blooming Grove, it wasn't the mousy little librarian that Bren had been so clearly attached to. It was their former co-conspirator. The damn dynasty turncoat. She reached a hand over to grip at Wulf's bicep, burning a spell slot to cast detect magic, the illusion cloaking Bren's partner shimmering in the spell's sight. "That sneaky bitch..." she muttered under her breath, not entirely sure if she meant Essek or Bren or both.

Caleb didn't notice any reaction one way or another from either of his exes, entirely too busy letting Essek lead him out onto the dancefloor. He remembered the first time they'd danced here together as well. He remembered every time they'd danced since, often enough just the two of them in their quaint little cottage.

Once they were properly on the dance floor, he turned to face Essek, letting his hand settle against his lover's hip. "You look lovely tonight, and no doubt even lovelier beyond the illusion."

[zauberdecke]

Essek did not notice a single thing, so focused was he on the inner seething that he could see radiating from Astrid but also on the warmth of Caleb's hand against the small of his back which grounded him considerably. He glanced up at Caleb as they walked away, those green eyes dancing quite merrily as his partner plied him with compliments.

It was true that Essek did love a proper dance with his lover, and so he slid happily into the safety and warmth of his lover's arms.

"Well I did go home to clean up a little bit before I met you here, you deserve to have a nice looking partner." he said this quietly though not without an arch raise of his brow. The thing with Essek that despite the guise of Seth Domade, he was intrinsicly still Essek, those mannerisms that were ingrained within him. Even though he did not resemble the drow, there were traces in his gestures.

"And you look, well you look good enough to eat." of course that was meant to be figurative, but Essek had been known to get those teeth in Caleb's skin for a nibble or two... funny how there were so many freckles scattered across skin that they made good guidance for hold.

[ausgebrannt]

Essek was always Essek, and Caleb adored those glimpses of the man he'd come to know and love even through the familiar illusory disguise of Seth. "I'm still not entirely certain I do actually deserve you. But it turns out I have become far too selfish to relinquish the treasure I've found myself in possession of."

Caleb had gone and fallen, and he was content to remain in that fall, the gravity of his personal universe forever shifted by the brilliant Dunamancer currently in his arms.

"When you say things like that, I have distinct memories of your teeth in my neck. They are... very pleasant memories." Just, you know, so Essek was aware that Caleb was a fan of those nibbles.

[zauberdecke]

"Very good, I will not allow myself to be relinquished so easily..." he said this quite smoothly as they danced around the hall in a very measured waltz, it was not a fast dance.. but it was not too slow either, a reasonable pace which would keep the other man in his arms for as long as possible. But always when the other man decided to enchant him like that.. the earth always swayed on it's axis before it shrank to the size of just the two of them

"Oh do you now? I do seem to recall some very suggestive sounds you make whenever I do it."

And Essek knew that if he bit down, the other man would likely make those noises again while the rest of the world had no idea he was digging his teeth in. He was of a height that he could rest his head against that shoulder, so he did and then turned his head, and then teeth came out nibbling.. just a bite.

"You really should blame yourself for having delicious skin."

[ausgebrannt]

Caleb smiled, all warmth and affection. The world had distilled for him as well, down to nothing but the music and the waltz and Essek in the circle of his arms. He'd already half forgotten that Astrid and Wulf were here, or that anyone else was in the room for that matter.

His eyebrows rose along with a dusting of pink across the freckled expanse of his cheeks. Well yes, he certainly did make noises when Essek decided to treat him like some sort of Zemnian snack to be nibbled.

And then Essek went and leaned in close, and, well, those teeth. And Caleb did indeed make one of those noises, though he had the wherewithal to keep it to a soft gasp and a shaky sound in exhale, audible certainly to Essek and anyone in their immediate vicinity. "You are a fiend..." This was not a complaint.

[zauberdecke]

For all that they were oblivious to the world, somewhere in the back of Essek's mind, he knew that Astrid and Eadwulf were glowering. Good, let them do so-- he had no intention of leaving.. neither did he have any inclination of freeing up Caleb's dance card any time soon. If he had his way there would be a dark corner somewhere in their future where they could trade fumbling touches as if they were both teenagers again.

Except Essek had never had those sort of experiences until Caleb Widogast.

"Do you think so? That is how I aim to please." he murmured, his breath hot on Caleb's neck. Then very demurely he angled his glance upward, though he had to reach over from where his hand had been laying so that he could push his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose. "But I think you like it.." he got in closer. "In fact, I think right now you are thinking of very naughty things.. is that right, Professor Widogast?"

Just try to deny all the filthy allegations, Essek would wait.

[ausgebrannt]

"You are so very talented with pleasing," Caleb agreed. Essek was a delight, even when he was clearly being wicked and trying to sweetly torture Caleb with kisses and nibbles on a public dancefloor.

He could feel each word, the ghost of heated breath, the slight brush of lips. And he shivered as those words raced through him. He managed to bite back most of a whimper. Almost all of it.

That question. Oh, well, no he couldn't precisely deny that allegation at all now could he? The blush on his face darkened. "It ah... it may be correct, yes. My mind has wandered down a particular path."

[zauberdecke]

There was something a little bit scandalous about the dance floor at this moment, and he nearly forgot that Astrid and Eadwulf were watching with little disguised jealousy in their eyes-- it was because Caleb had a habit of drawing to his mind only the pleasant things, the love that they had built around each other like a wall. It was unavoidable their devotion to each other in this moment.

And he did like the idea of Caleb Widogast like putty in his hands, the whimper was like music to his ears-- like a hitched gasp that echoed through the corridoors of time, he'd recall that gasp forever long after the other man was but a memory. Slowly he raised his hand to stroke the back of his hand against the other man's cheek.

"It is so easy to inspire you, but I dare say you must know that I am suffused with the same want.. I do not think I could ever get enough of you, even in my waking moments you possess the very scope of my awareness."

[ausgebrannt]

Oh so scandalous, and Caleb was so swept up in Essek that he didn't care at all that they were misbehaving in motion. He did know that the drow was deliberately stirring him up though, and it certainly was working. That touch at his cheek had him turning into his, like a cat nuzzling into his owner's petting.

He was always and would forever be weak to Essek Thelyss, and he had come to terms with this weakness -- knew that it was as much a strength as anything, that he was a better person for knowing and for loving the Dunamancer. For being loved in return.

"Are you? Then we are both in a predicament, mm? Wanting something that we probably ought not be wanting in the middle of a dance floor. But then, shall I share a secret?" He leaned closer then, quite deliberately catching Essek's lips with his own, a brief benediction of a kiss. "I always want you. Whether we are on the dance floor or on the battlefield or in our armchairs in the cottage."

[zauberdecke]

It was true that Caleb was his dearest friend, and that friendship had cemented his heart, made it indescribably weak for the other man, made him want to seek out intimacy in all forms. It would not be possible for him to lay his vulnerabilities bare like this with anyone but Caleb and he knew this.

Mouth to mouth, the taste of parted lips and the subtle tang of tongue against the crease, he almost lifted himself a few inches but then that would have been unsettling to those staring. He was still thinking of the best way to approach this without tipping off suspicions.

"Perhaps not on the dance floor but I think I saw a few unoccupied corners, I suppose I could allow you to lead me into temptation... and perhaps a few kisses."

Realizing full well that it was likely they would not be able to stop short of a few kisses.

[ausgebrannt]

"Oh? Am I the one doing the tempting here? It seems to me the temptation is currently dancing in my arms." It was Essek. The greatest temptation of his life, beating out even knowledge and magic and books.

That said it was a very appealing idea. "That said, I would very much like to find exactly that sort of corner where I could kiss you properly." By properly he meant full on bedroom-rated kissing, the sort that really was frowned upon in public.

He smiled, glancing back over his shoulder briefly, wondering where the best spot to take their little assignation might be.

[zauberdecke]

"I think that I am tempting you just as much as you are me." And there was an almost smug expression on his face when Caleb started looking for a private area to dance him off into-- that pleased him an inordinate amount and that really had no comparison. "But I think that I will make the temptation worth your while, Chathtiu..."

His mind whirled with such giddy and slightly delicious palpitations, because there was something about Caleb that could make him feel totally adored, as if he was the center of the universe and there was Caleb as the light in his sky.

"I am so fortunate to have you, and I never want to take you for granted.. you will never be anything but loved by me."

[ausgebrannt]

"I have no doubt that you will do exactly that. You always do." Anything with Essek was worth his while, even if it meant trips back to Aeor and having to carry fish-Essek until the errant magic of transformation wore off. All of it just wound up becoming a cherished new memory in the story of a life they were writing together.

Caleb's eyes -- expressive and blue, and which could by turns look forlorn and full of enough sorrow to crush a medium-sized citystate or soft and gentle with a happiness he still felt like he hadn't earned -- fixed on Essek's face, so full of affection that they were near to glowing with it.

"I love you too, Mein Mondschein. More than I have words or in Common or Zemnian." Or in his ongoing study of Undercommon.

[zauberdecke]

"Mmmmmm.." he said, his arms draped around Caleb's shoulders as he leaned their foreheads together in a gesture that was part and parcel of the love that they felt with each other, he could almost taste Caleb's lips, the point of Caleb's nose lightly resting against his own. It was warm and safe, and he had never been in love like this-- his partner, his everything.

"I suppose we shall just have to use actions to convey what we feel for each other.." and then he turned his head and then spotted a little alcove, which was unoccupied. "I think I have spotted a nice cozy place that could fit just the two of us, that is if you are interested in making out like two teenagers." his fingertip lightly grazed against the collar that was slightly opened, and then he touched the sprigs of hair just peeking out over on the undone collar.

"You know, I really like it when you have your shirt open like this." he was sure that Caleb did that just because, as if to lure him with an unspoken promise. "It gives you an additional level of alluring."

[ausgebrannt]

It was genuinely amazing how that simple moment of their foreheads resting together had become such a familiar form of intimacy. Even in the middle of a dancefloor, here they were sharing that moment and all the spoken and unspoken love that went along with it.

"I am incredibly interested in that, yes. Bitte, bitte." Please and thank you, Essek. Caleb would very much like to have a thorough makeout session, maybe some heavy petting. Maybe more than that. Who could say? They were wizards. They were clever.

A shiver ran through him at the slow, frankly seductive touch of that finger. He cleared his throat. "I ah... I do know, ja." Well, confession made. He'd noticed Essek's attention and interest, and he was quite happy to court it.

Breaking the dance hold, he caught Essek's hand within his own and headed towards the previously identified alcove.

[zauberdecke]

The suggestion had not been innocent and they both knew that, because at times they were like two teenagers with each other, hands all over each other. Essek had never a demonstrative person in public but there was something about Caleb's arm around his waist or the catch of a hand-hold that was precious.. then there was the secret nuzzles, kisses and stolen gropes when no one was percieved to be looking.

Except wasn't there a thrill in the maybe?

Perhaps Essek was too eager to get to the darkened alcove, to enjoy the touch of his partner. A part of him inside glowed that Caleb called him partner in front of Astrid and Eadwulf, that felt even more wonderful because he had been chosen. Once there, he rested a hand against Caleb's chest and very softly shoved him back against the wall with a smile that was part charming and also part awkward.. because of his disguise self guise.

"I like turning you on like this."

[ausgebrannt]

Ah, there it was. That soft little shove that brought Caleb's back against the wall. His breath caught on a soft hitched sound, pupils dilating visibly. Turned on indeed. The Zemnian wizard was very obviously a fan of Essek taking charge, and that was hardly a new revelation.

He hooked his fingers in Essek's belt and gave a tug to draw the drow-in-disguise closer.

"You are endlessly talented at it." In case there was any doubt at all. By now Caleb had forgotten entirely that Astrid and Eadwulf were even in the room, though he may remember at some point. It hardly mattered. They had been a large part of his past, yes, but Essek had become his present and his future, for as long as his own mortality allowed him to remain a match for his elven lover.

[zauberdecke]

And that would be for a very long time, as Essek did not intend on going faster than Caleb could keep up-- he could be happily content with resting with Caleb on a couch in those golden years, he would even disguise himself as an aged version of Seth so that they could be together, so that Caleb would not have to look at him and see a younger person but one who was a composite of all their shared memories together.

Who he had felt like being in love with Caleb Widogast, the most interesting man he would ever come to know.

"I am? Well I suppose that I shall have to keep that as a compliment, Caleb Widogast." and then he leaned in and upwards to press a kiss against those slightly full lips, feeling the scratch of Caleb's chin against his own which made him feel endlessly real and alive in a way that he'd never felt in the previous 120-something odd years.

[ausgebrannt]

"It was meant as one..." Caleb agreed as he melted into that kiss, lips parting to invite more, his own tongue brushing along Essek's lower lip as what he hoped would be added motivation.

Making out like teenagers was the plan, wasn't it? At least the start of a plan. They'd likely move past the makeout boundary into something decidedly more than making out, and Caleb had zero qualms about that possibility at all.

Like this he could taste the familiar flavor of the drow's lips, the lips he'd memorized by heart with each new kiss refreshing the memory.

[zauberdecke]

All words were lost on the tip of his tongue and then swallowed by Caleb's own mouth, he fitted his body right against the other man's, standing as close as possible, thighs to chest while their mouths hungrily started to melt into each other; first with Essek's mouth parting to allow for Caleb to sink his tongue inside, all the while his own arm was roaming through the hair at the back of the other man's neck.

Oh yes, he could feel with keenness how he was affecting the other man.

Including the very interested prick underneath the fabric of trousers, of which he started to grind his lower body against it with such precise and agonizing slowness that he knew would be subtle and not so easily seen even if it was keenly felt.

[ausgebrannt]

Caleb's cock was definitely interested, and the way that Essek pressed close, he knew full well that the drow was aware. But that was more than all right. He wanted his partner to know the effect he had on him, and so he murmured it in wordless plea to that kiss, drunk on the taste of his mouth, more intoxicating than any liquor he'd ever known.

His knees felt weak as Essek moved against him that way, and he had to break from the kiss to take a shaky breath, tying to remember that he ought to keep himself quiet, to soften the whimper that wanted to escape from his lips.

"Essek..." just his name, though it may as well have been a prayer for how reverent and pleading it was.

[zauberdecke]

Essek reached up and traced that lower lip with the tip of his fingers while he watched those blue eyes melt for him, the softest whimper.. even a sigh that managed to flutter from those lips and then he leaned in to kiss the corner of that mouth after the kiss was broken. "Yes, do you want something?"

Essek cheated one side of his body to obstruct Caleb for the most part from the dance floor and then his fingertips started to dance just underneath Caleb's shirt to creep up it where he felt the trail of hair just before where it disappeared into trousers. "I think though that I can decipher it fairly well.." he knew that if he cast his palm downward, he'd meet quite a lovely hill ready to be touched.

Leaning in to slide his tongue against the part of those lips, to taste the other man there.. the hoppy flavor of bier that the other man had consumed a glass of, he also liked that tang there, it tasted good on his own lips.