Fall of War, Fall of Love
I – Fall of Lusitania
There is, in the westerner part of Iberia, some very odd inhabitants. They can't rule themselves nor allow others to rule them!
Are you not the blood of Rome? Will you allow them to laugh on the face of the Republic? Join Galba and our army in Iberia, win this for your grandfather.
"I do not trust Galba and I fail to see why my presence is required on such place. Send someone else."
You are not coherent on your speech Romano. In a moment you can be so very wise and suddenly you sound like a youngster. You do not trust Galba? Intelligent position. It is rare to find someone who you can trust completely. Why is your presence required on Iberia? Why would not Rome's own grandson be interested in seeing the Roman Republic grow?
"Oh Caesar, such a beautiful speech, worthy of the Senate indeed. You speak well but you do not give a direct answer.
Such is politics Romano, you should know that.
"I am aware. But I insist for you to tell me what other reasons you have to insist so much in this subject. Geopolitics must be one of them I suspect. Hispania is part of the Republic now but Lusitania is still an ally to Cartage. To allow a breech on the Peninsula could bring us troubles."
Proceed.
"You must have other reason though… Something personal that you do not dare to say out loud."
You know that whispers can be deadly.
"A whisper can be the downfall of a great force. Then whisper it only to me Caesar for I am the Republic and I do not crumble so easily."
The Gods have favoured you with a keen mind if not a bit tempestuous. Very well I shall tell you. The truth is I do not place my trust in Galba either and I want someone trustworthy to lead that campaign. That's why you must go. I cannot send anyone else.
"Galba will not be pleased if he knows that I am to lead."
Let him think that he's leading then. Make sure to keep me updated as soon as possible. Go on then Romano. Roma Victor.
"Very well. I'll see it done. Hail Caesar."
II – Fall of Roma
And yet the country north of the Tagus, Lusitania, is the greatest of the Iberian nations, and is the nation against which the Romans waged war for the longest times.
Cartage had always been a threat to the Roman Republic and had found a convenient ally in Hispania, therefore it was only but normal to expect for Rome to strike in order to defend the Italic Peninsula.
But them, oh them, cursed people with a primal fury might as well compare them to wild animals.
Hispania was conquered. The Lusitani were not.
Rome attacked mercilessly numerous times, but would they fall? Never. They were fearless savages, who would not bow to the might of the Rome.
The Gods of Fortune had abandoned the descendants of Aeneas, the Republic despaired.
Silence in the villa at last, the hour was late and the moon was high.
A young man stood silently against a wall near one of the bedrooms, observing the flickering light of the lit candles tremble. He would not be dismissed so soon unlike the other servants, he was only but waiting to be called.
"Word goes, Hispanic, that you never go to rest like the rest of us because you are fooling around with someone. Confess, it's Aemilia isn't it?"
"Is that your mother's name? Thank you for informing me, I never get to ask her anything we just go straight to business!"
He would dodge that sort of questions with ease, his tongue was sharp and the indiscrete looks that some servants would throw at him now and then did not bother him.
Indeed, he was a servant too but at the same time so much more than that. For he was Lusitania himself, the eternal warrior of olive skin, bright green eyes always denouncing a hint of mischievousness, a rogue smile on his lips and a strong physique of someone who could be considered a son of the ocean, one who could ride the waves.
But he was so very far away from home now, for years that he had been taken away.
His thoughts were interrupted when steps were heard from the near room, a shadow cutting through the warm candle lights, dashing quickly in the dark as if afraid to be seen.
- Looking for me? – Lusitania asked suddenly, observing the smaller figure halt startled by his voice.
-Will you stop that?! Why do you insist in showing up out of nowhere?
- And miss the noble Romano jump like a frightened child at the sound of my voice? I wouldn't miss it for the world!
The shadow swiftly approached Lusitania, grabbing him violently by his collar while cursing aggressively.
- You come to me when I tell you to! What if someone had saw you?
- I don't see what the problem is actually. I am your servant, what is so strange about you calling for my services? – he answered softly while grabbing Romano's hand and kissing it. For he was greater than any Caesar – Unless….
- Unless?... – his breath suddenly became agitated when the lips of that Hispanic man roamed through his hand, finally kissing it.
- Unless you are afraid that a certain situation repeats itself… - his voice suddenly became hoarse and whispered as he leant provocatively towards Romano's lips – Remember? That night near the shore right under the nose of your generals? Don't worry, they were so drunk they would not have noticed a thing. Or perhaps that other time-
- Enough! I am not afraid of anything because nothing happened!
- Precisely. Nothing happened. So don't be so worried for calling me at this hour, no one is going to think that your servant is your lover~ Your reputation will remain immaculate. Not that you should be concerned about that, you'd not be the first one.
- You seem awfully chipper for someone who just worked all day, I may have to give you more chores for you to perform since you still have so much energy left!
- I live to serve~
- You're such a liar…
Suddenly Romano realized the proximity that both still held, so close to each other he could distinguish Lusitania's smile in the shadows and his moist lips so near, dangerously tempting…
The Gods had cursed him indeed, a cruel prank of Venus. To desire passionately a man that would certainly rebel against him if he had the opportunity.
- Same as usual I suppose? – Lusitania inquired suddenly, stepping away from Romano but not without lingering his fingers on his hand as long as possible.
- W-What?
- You want me to prepare your bath?
- Ah! Yes, yes that's it. – he answered with a sigh, observing that wild man entering his chambers like he did every single night.
There was an unspoken tension settled between both parties for a long time. At first it had been hard for Lusitania to accept his new conditions as Romano's servant, especially after the massacre of his people.
They were betrayed, he had been captured and sold as a slave. Romano decided to take him as his servant. For quite a while Lusitania thought it was a twisted plan set to humiliate him.
"Better to be a servant than to be a slave."
Little by little, they began to talk. Lusitania was infuriating sometimes with his snarky responses but eventually he understood that Romano had nothing to do with Galba's betrayal.
"He is the poorest excuse for a Roman soldier let alone a Praetorian! He could not control the army and for that we lost 7000 soldiers in a single battle! And I had to stay still and watch, oh no I am only a brat what do I know about wars! I should have had him thrown to the lions on that moment!"
"No offense, but from where I was standing, your defeat looked pretty great to me."
"Of course it did. I just don't understand how you Lusitani seem so disorganized in your battle formations and yet you managed to beat us!"
"Disorganized in your point of view. What would be our objective if you Romans understood our tactics? We want you to think that we are disorganized, we want you to think that we are inferior. Your hubris will do half of the work for us."
"Aren't you the arrogant little shit."
"As long as I'm not arrogant in the battlefield~ Explain to me then, why do you consider Galba a poor excuse for a soldier? Because he lost to us several times? He did won at the end."
"His "victory" is disgusting and I spit on his name! I… I didn't want for that to happen. There's no honour on what he did. When your ambassadors arrived and he tricked them with promises of peace… I wasn't there. I did not heard his plan. When he made you leave your homes and assemble you in three groups and proceed to slay you all… I wasn't there either…. And I should have."
"Your concept of honour cannot be found in most people Romano. Be glad that you actually have it. I don't blame you for the bloodshed of my people. I may have changed my opinion about you."
"And what was your opinion before?"
"Irrelevant. I like you much better now and I'll probably keep liking you even more from now on."
He followed Lusitania silently and stood there at the entrance of his own room, watching the preparations for his bath.
Yes, he too, kept liking Lusitania more and more wishing for the night to arrive soon for it was the only moments he could be around him.
Each night he would call him and each night he would become more secretly enamoured. And Lusitania had to know, it was impossible not to, and he would use every single opportunity to taunt him, promising him kisses that would never happen.
- I have something to tell you. – Romano said, smiling gently after a while – Good news.
- Oh? It must be, you look absolutely ecstatic. Tell me, what is it?
- Galba's mandate in Hispania is ending and he's returning to Rome.
- Unless the good news include the sentence "I'm offering you the opportunity to slay painfully and slowly that son of a whore" I don't see how that can make me happy. – Lusitania answered with a scoff - He'll return to Rome, so what? He'll be showered in praises and gold for being a conqueror!
- Do you have so little faith in me to think I would not do something about it?
He rose his eyes slowly, to meet Romano's smug smirk. Oh but he was absolutely terrifying when he wished to, suddenly all of his juvenile attitude would disappear to make way to a dangerous brilliance.
If anything, both men had that very particular trait in common and both respected and admired that on the other.
As Lusitania and Romano were often overlooked, each one for different reasons, both would lay still as if they were a harmless animal until it was the moment to strike back. And their bite was lethal.
- What did you do?... – Lusitania asked cautiously.
The answer came in the shape of a chuckle, clearly Romano wanted to keep the suspense a little longer and as gesture of playfulness he laid down on his bed, ignoring Lusitania's urgency to know the answer.
- Romano!
- Hush now, I'm reading. – he answered without bothering to disguise his amusement, grabbing randomly one of the scrolls he kept near the bed but throwing now and then some looks to the Hispanic man who didn't took long to approach him.
- Please. – Lusitania asked while kneeling by his side and grabbing his hand as a respectful gesture – Tell me.
It was impossible to tease him any longer, Romano suddenly felt guilty for toying with the situation, it was Lusitania's people and home who had suffered at the hands of that traitorous, sociopath Galba.
Softly he pulled Lusitania to his bed making him sit by his side as he shifted his position in order to be laying in the horizontal.
- I pulled some strings in the military tribune, I may or may not have told some very important people there about Galba's actions back in Hispania. – Romano started to say, while tenderly playing with Lusitania's fingers still intertwined with his own.
- And?...
Such an uncommon sight to see Lusitania so apprehensive and tense, how could Romano deny to him what he wished the most?
- He's going to be charged against to what he did to your people as soon as he arrives. I've seen to it, I promise. I won't rest until I see him ruined.
A profound silence got settled in the room, as Lusitania looked incredulously to Romano who kept his gaze averted from the Hispanic's face, out of bashfulness. It was almost overwhelming to have him there in his own bed, holding hands.
Then, in a slow, delicate movement, Lusitania leant his body to rest his forehead on Romano's head, feeling the smaller body below his shiver at the contact and his breath becoming more agitated for a couple of seconds. Their grip on each other's hands tightened, for what other place was meant for them to be if not that one, so near to each other?
- You didn't had to do it. – Lusitania whispered after a while, his lips brushing lightly against Romano's ear.
- Are you really that surprised? – he shivered again, almost in agony. How horridly greedy he was, as he desired more and more of Lusitania. His lips upon his own, claiming them with a passionate violence. Then their bodies would intertwine, clothes discarded until there was nothing else left but that dark olive body for him to worship with his sinful mouth and hands. Oh the Gods would have to forgive him for that blasphemy.
- No. Coming from you I'm not. Thank you… For doing the right thing…
The sentence so softly pronounced, pulled him back to reality, possessed by an incredulity that Romano never thought to reach. Surely, he had to know. He had to know that half of his actions were not made by the name of justice, he was not that unblemished to the point of acting merely out of a sense of morality.
Also for you, always for you.
- You can't possibly be so oblivious… You know my reasons were also… Personal.
There was a moment of pause between the two and amidst the silence, Romano heard Lusitania lick discreetly his own lips.
Cursed torture! That mouth and tongue should be his to taste!
Suddenly, a teasingly soft kiss behind his ear came, as tantalizing as Romano had imagined, Lusitania's lower lip delicately catching his ear lobe and tasting it only to release it the second after.
- Tell me then. – Lusitania demanded hoarsely, eager to hear the suffocated moans so close to escape through Romano's semi open lips, slowly but deeply breathing in expectation – I want to know.
What can I possibly answer that you are not already aware of?
- I did it for you… - the soft whisper would have to serve as an answer, as he had no strength left to answer anything more coherent, he was desperate and dripping with lust. The second kiss was placed on the curve of his neck, Lusitania nipping and sucking with fervour, setting free a whimper that Romano had been able to supress until the moment.
- Why? – he still asked, yet not satisfied. But no, no response came, only Romano running his fingers through his hair before pulling him in for a kiss.
Lusitania moaned softly on the contact with that soft mouth and bold tongue, pulling him to a state of self-awareness torpor, where nothing else existed but Romano.
For sure he was paying the price for teasing him for so long, he held a lustful and yet painful desire for Romano's lips and body on one side and an unbridled passion for the young Roman Republic headstrong personality, so filled with cunning intelligence and bashful kindness.
Of course that Lusitania knew that he had fallen in love for Romano a long time ago and he was not indifferent to him either but those hunting games where both would crave for each other were so deliciously passionate, Lusitania had managed to control his feelings until now.
To feel that sweet tongue move slowly and tantalizing inside his mouth was better than anything he could have ever imagined, and granted he had fantasied often with Romano.
Suddenly he broke the kiss apart, observing for instants the flushed man under him, aching for his lips again. Indeed, he never thought he would live to see the fall of Roma on his arms.
- So you love me then? – Lusitania asked, still able to throw one of his typical provocative smile that only served to incite Romano into pinning him down in a swift movement.
- I don't think you're in the position to ask so many questions. – he answered while crawling to the top of the Hispanic man and placing a soft kisses on his lips – You have been terrible to me.
Between such sweet demonstrations of affection, tenderly ran his hands through the other man's chest, feeling the delicate fabric on his fingertips until he reached his inner thighs, eliciting more soft moans and a restless, involuntary hip thrust.
- See? I think I am on the perfect position to ask questions. – Lusitania smiled while dragging his fingers sluggishly to hidden spots, where he could make Romano mewl his name effortlessly.
- Do… Your worst… - Romano replied blushing furiously.
- Oh I will, but first… - as he proffered those words, Lusitania managed to smoothly pick Romano up and rise from the bed, causing him to gasp and hold onto Lusitania's neck as if afraid of falling – You are going to have your bath. I did not prepared that whole thing to go to waste!
- You are the most horrible, sneakiest, despicable person I've ever met!
- I love you too. – Lusitania laughed between kisses, highly amused with Romano's latent frustration – Now you go take your bath and meanwhile I'll wait for you in bed~
One last kiss before Lusitania put Romano down, how to tear apart those two now, too many days and too many nights loving each other silently to ask them to be away from each other.
And the nights were theirs, as Cupid and Psyche, bound together by an unpredictable love.
Author's Notes: Let's just say that once again I have fell for another rare ship and managed to drag some people with me. This one shot is a trade with a friend on tumblr. Our debates about Portmano are hilarious and we both feel that they deserve more fics!
As usual I went for the historical background and as such there are several things that you must be aware of, so here we go.
By now you should have noticed the mention of Hispania on this one shot and let me clarify that such mentions refer to the Iberian Peninsula, baptized as such by the Romans [Iberia was the name that the Greeks have given to the peninsula], as a whole.
Therefore Hispania refers to the area occupied to what is now Portugal and Spain as none of them were formed on this time period which explains why I refer to Portugal as Lusitania, since the province occupied approximately all of modern Portugal south to Douro river and a small part of modern Spain.