Chapter 1
Julian lounged on the bed, watching as Alex went through his closet and made faces. "Why are we going to this party again?" he asked.
Julian knew it was rhetorical, but he answered it anyway. "Because we like Chudleigh and Geoff, and they asked us to. It's only for a long weekend, and it will get us away from the current wave of people coming up to the house in hopes of hopping the waitlist."
Alex huffed and came over to kiss Julian, draping himself on one side and bringing their faces close in a way that left his feet dangling. "You're too wise. Also, those people are getting on my last nerve."
They'd been very, very booked up all winter, and recently some people — mostly humans — had begun dropping by the isolated house as though it was on the way to the shops, just wanting a moment of their time, really, did they have to go through the secretary?
Yes, yes they did.
One man had shown up on three separate occasions and become the first person on their official blacklist for reasons other than asking for forbidden or illegal items.
Julian put that out of his mind, leaning into the kisses instead. "If you're done waffling about clothing Alys will choose anyway, maybe you'd like to pay attention to me instead? It's not like we'll have a lot of alone time at Chudleigh's, you know." He gave Alex an adorable fake pout that was only a little real.
He wasn't looking forward to being even a little bit celibate, after getting used to having Alex's affections at least once, if not thrice a day.
Alex hummed into the kiss and nuzzled at Julian's neck, inhaling the scent of him. "I think that's a very wise idea, my darling husband. We wouldn't want to scandalise the partygoers with stray sex magic."
Julian giggled and pulled Alex fully atop him, kissing him greedily now. "You so would."
"Well," said Alex, between the kisses they never seemed to get enough of, "maybe a little."
Julian could feel their bonds lighting up, the magic rising as their ardour rose with it. This house had plenty of ways to siphon off the excess their couplings always produced, but Chudleigh's newly-remodelled home was unlikely to have such amenities. Usually they just produced a bit of a light show on the walls and ceiling, but sometimes it went further, blooming plants out of season or producing fluttering illusion butterflies.
Julian had enjoyed those before Alex dismissed the energy into the wards.
Today, their kisses had a dreamy quality that wasn't so much powerful as deeply connected, and Julian let the worry go alongwith the rest. Alex's hands were working at his clothes so Julian returned the favour, happy to see that Alex was wearing a single layer since he'd shed his sweater to try on frock coats and jackets for the party.
They'd need at least two outfits a day, and more if the weather let up enough for some kind of outdoor games, though that seemed unlikely with the way the wind blew outside. They were in the depths of winter now, the dark months before the sun returned when everything could seem hopeless if you weren't in a warm room in a warm house with your very warm lover.
Julian purred softly as Alex's lips trailed down his neck and over his chest, as Alex's hands got his shirt open and trousers undone, enough for now, though not nearly enough for what Julian was hoping.
Julian arched up into Alex's mouth, into his touches, letting him meander over Julian's skin however he liked, taking his time, their time. He pushed Alex's shirt off his shoulders, which got Alex to pause and strip off both their shirts with an impish grin. "Not a quickie, then?"
Julian shook his head, grinning back slower and more seductively, he hoped. "Quite the opposite, husband."
"Well," said Alex, working Julian's trousers off as he spoke, "if my husband wishes it so."
Alex got them both properly naked and tucked into bed, dimming the lights and making the whole room seem like a magical twilight with nothing but the two of them in the world. Their bodies moved together with nothing but murmurs of lovenow, words that fell into the space between them like sugar into tea, dissolving and making everything sweeter.
They were both as lean as magic users were wont to be, but Julian especially had regained some softness from the surfeit of magic in their home. Alex fit well between his thighs, bony hips cushioned enough to be going on with from his own life full of goodness. Alex teased at Julian's nipples, nuzzled at his stomach, nipped at the curve of his hips, never quite going where Julian wanted him the most. He put appreciation for Julian's body just as it was in every motion, and Julian tried to do the same for Alex's lanky form, hands going over every bit he could reach with reverence and love.
Outside it was a time of slumber, death, and waiting. Inside, they were just as whole and hale as ever, and just as needy, their energy more spring than winter as they moved together in the big bed.
At some point, Alex found the lubricant potion, fingers coated in magic they'd made together and opening Julian up to make even more, the power twining with magic to tingle all through his body and subtle body. It made a circuit between them, fingers to body, kiss to kiss, and Julian fell into the sensation without reservation, trusting himself to his husband.
Alex trusted Julian just the same, giving himself to the bond and the magic, to the joining of their bodies and the movement of hips and thighs and mouths and breath. They both drew things out together, rolling over partway through so Julian could ride him, so Alex could watch and send that glorious admiration back through the bond with the rest, so Julian could look down and see his lover spread out beneath him.
They met in another sweet kiss, heady with desire and sweaty with the exertion, slick and sweet and salty and wanton. Their fingers twined together and Alex's hips angled upward, and things accelerated from there toward their finish. They always came together, now, too bound in body and soul to do otherwise, and Julian rode both his own pleasure and Alex's as he drove them both to completion.
Alex took over at some point, grabbing Julian's hips and thrusting in short, sharp shocks of sensation, arching to rub his stomach's softness against Julian's hardness. It took them an endless moment after that to finish together, sparks flying and being caught by Alex's wards, by the life around them, by the lights which bloomed to life in a pattern he'd see afterward: flowers and vines in a messy sprawl on the ceiling above the bed.
Julian rolled off Alex and laughed to see them. "We haven't done that in a while."
Alex twined his fingers with Julian's and lay next to him, panting. "We don't take our time that often, I guess."
Julian brought their hands up to kiss their entwined fingers, then settled deeper into the bed, letting his body cool from the exertion.
