The marquis felt the warm sunlight on the outside of his closed eyelids. The night before vague in his memory.
He remembered meeting Serault's resident bard in the hallway. They'd spent that evening reciting old and often ridiculous tales either from their own past or someone else's. And wine, there were copious amounts of wine involved. He groaned at an upcoming headache. Too much wine it seemed.
He felt someone stroking his relatively short blond hair on the right side of his head. Hm...That's nice. Wait, what?!
The Marquis' eyes shot wide open. The shock immediately lifted the early morning fog in his mind, like splashing cold water all over yourself.
He found last night's drinking and storytelling companion right next to him in bed.
"Good morning, milord." He put on a false air of nobility that seemed intend to mock nobility as a whole.
"Or is it just Vincent now?"
"Excuse me?"
The radiance fell from his face, smile faded and the joking in his tone subsided. The space between his eyebrows wrinkled in worry.
"Please tell me you remember last night."
"Vaguely." Vincent admitted.
"Ah."
The bard's hand withdrew from Vincent's hair and the side of his face.
"So, what conclusion might one draw from this?" He questioned.
Vincent grabbed the other man's hand before it retreated entirely and held it in a gentle, loose grip.
"That I wouldn't mind a repeat of whatever happened last night?" Vincent suggested with a smile.
"Even if just to jog my memory. Who'd want to forget that, hm?" He continued.
Who cared how or why they had ended up this way? Best to make the most of a happy accident, Vincent figured, since they come around so rarely.
The bard smiled. He let his hand find Vincent's face once more and leaned in to steal a kiss. The marquis gladly let him. They continued that delightful dance of tongues until they both had to come up for air.
"Wonderful. So, there is to be an affair after all? What an interesting scandal that will make."
He placed himself back on top of Vincent.
"Oh? Only interested in me for the scandal it might cause?" He teased.
The bard chuckled.
"Hardly."
As promised, they repeated the fun times they had experienced in that same bed the night before. Mouths met. Hands grasped, explored, wandered. The marquis, no, both of them had to supress a moan on more than one occasion to prevent anyone from hearing their tryst. These secret liaisons were much more exciting than an open affair, after all.
When they were done the bard sat on the side of the bed and Vincent laid on his side, turned towards his lover.
"Remember anything yet?"
"It's starting to come back to me. The flirting especially."
"You started it."
"So I did. I didn't think you'd be interested, honestly."
Vincent propped himself up on his right elbow.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Those parties. You always take interested in some young woman."
"Or a man."
The marquis' eyebrows knitted together. Did he just not notice? Or did he prefer to keep his affairs with men more private?
"Hm. So both work for you?"
"They don't for you?"
"No. I'm only interested in men."
"Is that so? Pity. Who will continue the Shame's line then?"
"I'm quite sure I've a cousin who won't mind jumping on that one. She's got four kids already with a fifth on the way," Vincent shuddered. ", I don't know how she can manage that."
The marquis wrapped his arms around the other man, kissed his shoulder and then rested his head upon it.
"How do you manage being Marquis of Serault?"
"Just fine, thank you."
The bard turned his face towards the Marquis to give him a look of disbelief, eyebrow raised.
"Okay, so Serault is a bit of a mess sometimes, but it's home."
"A bit?"
"If it's so bad, why do you keep coming back?" Vincent questioned.
"You have so many lovely things here, of course. The women, the men, the wine and oh, the intrigue. Truly, Serault imports the best wines. Why wouldn't I come?"
Vincent heard him smirk at his own last line and the implied innuendo. The marquis rolled his eyes, yet smiled. Not one of the bard's better lines, but after what they had just done, er, again, it sort of fit.
"And now for the truth, if you please."
"Must we have this conversation now?"
"I am curious, indulge me."
The marquis felt the other man's chest expand under him and then force out a sigh.
"Honestly, it started as a visit to my uncle after I'd left the game. He suggested I try to find work here. I didn't think it would work out. After... Let's just say there are few patrons who've managed to tolerate me this long."
The corners of the marquis' lips turned downwards. He quit leaning on the dark haired man before him and got out of bed, then turned and placed himself on that same man's lap. Vincent wrapped his arms around him.
"You're sorely mistaken if you think I merely 'tolerate' you. You greatly liven things up at court. I appreciate that. Now kiss me again."
He smiled and did as requested.
Also on: devontabris . deviantart *com* *slash* art/A-night-to-remember-503957599 (sorry, apparently fanfiction . *net* is a dick and won't allow me to post links properly. If you want to look at it on the other sites, just piece it together by yourself)
archiveofourown *org* *slash* works/3323495