Chapter 2: No, still means no.

The second Kain had taken his lover into his bedroom he had him sit on the bed. Then, he avoided his eyes as he paced nervously trying to think of how to word his current problem in order to explain it without completely letting loose that he wanted to join Cecil in union. Yet if his kind king had heard him say that there was someone he wanted to be with him for the rest of their lives, the man was not at all dumb, he was going to know that the dragoon had wanted to make things between he and Cecil permanent. If anything, his boyfriend already knew who said what. Though they were apart and rarely saw one another, Kain himself knew that the paladin kept close contact with his elder brother. How annoying. Who even knew what Golbez could have said to his younger sibling in regards to his fool of a lover asking permission to marry the King of Baron.

Why you gotta be so rude?
Don't you know I'm human too?

Blue eyes watched the sulking dragoon as he paced in front of the white knight,and feet shuffled in a bit of impatience. Cecil just wanted to know what was wrong with his love, and with his brother. As the white haired male sat there chewing on the inside of his lip, Kain removed his helmet and sat it down on his mahogany nightstand with a heavy sigh. That was also something that Cecil had noticed the other doing a lot that week, that Kain had not noticed himself doing at all. And when it seemed he had finally finished with pacing, the dragoon had just started it back up again.

It then seemed that the beautiful man on the bed had finally had enough of the lingering silence. Standing, the lunar being walked up to Kain and stopped him from pacing by reaching up his hands and placing them on the tanned cheeks. Thumbs carefully grazed the high cheekbones as eyes wandered to observe the dragoon's facial features, searching out whatever blemishes there may be that would show any sign of what could have been wrong with the male. Cecil then spoke with high concern in his voice while a middle and index finger traced the thin lines that had made a home of Kain's brows,

"You're getting wrinkles stressing over whatever it is you're thinking about. Get any more and you'll look like an old man, Kain."

A smile suddenly appeared on the older man's lips as his hand pulled down Cecil's to place a soft kiss on his palm. You've always had such a way with telling me I was looking horrid. For a while, lavender eyes just stared into Cecil's loving blue one's filled with concern. He had planned to wait to ask the younger man to marry him, but in order to explain what his problem was... He'd have to ask him now.

In a way that seemed it was practiced, Kain got down to one knee and kept the other's pale hand within his own. He then kissed each digit softly as if mentally preparing Cecil for more kisses in the very near future. Sucking in a breath, the blond felt as if the stone room around him was closing in on them and trying to suffocate the words he had to say. Why was this suddenly so hard to do? All he had to do was propose, and explain why he then could not marry him right then and there. It had all worked itself out perfectly in his head, but now the self-proclaimed master of tactics could not bring himself to ask such a simple question. But suddenly as if his heart had finally had enough of it's own torture, he spoke up.

"Cecil, you know how I've felt about you for a very, very long time... And I know you've seen how I try to express my love every day by giving you whatever it is you want and the best of it."

He took a pause, and watched his king's reaction. The younger male nodded as if to tell him to go on with a light pink hue on his face feeling just a bit embarrassed. Kissing the back of Cecil's hand, Kain did just that.

"I think, that you Cecil Harvey, are the most beautiful creature I have ever laid my eyes on. You should know that it has indeed made me a very selfish man, and has caused me to make very selfish decisions in my lifetime. All of those decisions you have forgiven as far as I know. Which is why I have an equally selfish question to ask you, and I hope you say yes."

Say yes, say yes...

Licking his lips, the dragoon finally asked, "Cecil, will you marry me?"

The moment of silence that followed after was just enough to make the dragoon go crazy. It would have been rather unfortunate if the paladin were to say no. When he had mentally rehearsed this scene, he had only thought about the end results if his partner were to say yes. Not if he said no. Hopefully if it was a 'No.', there were some good reasons behind it. Such as, 'Kain, I love you dearly but... I'm not ready for marriage yet. Let us wait another year or so." That would have been bearable. But a flat out rejection? No. No, Kain would not have any of it. And if the reasoning behind the rejection were that, Cecil was quite fond of women after all, then the man would surely lose his mind. With a sigh he sincerely hoped with all of his heart that his lover would say yes.

"Kain, of course I'll marry you."

"What...?" Blinking, the dragoon looked up at his king as if he did not believe the words that were said to him.

Cecil being the merciful man he was, repeated his words to his dumbfounded love, "I said I would marry you. It is all I could really want right now, to be tied to you."

The higher beings must have given Kain the strength to hold himself back at that moment. If his self control were non-existent, there was a high guarantee that he would have had his way with Cecil right then and there regardless of whether or not the door was open and that they were not on the bed. But soon enough his mood dropped as did the smile on his face upon remembering that there was still one more difficult quest he had to accomplish before he could marry the man. As if knowing there was more to the story, the paladin before him got down to his knees to meet at eye level, and gave a rather curious tilt to his head. There he was again, trying to read the normally stoic man's troubles that were written on his face. His words did not even have to be spoken for Kain to know that he was being asked what the problem was.

"It's your brother, Cecil... I asked him for his blessing you see, and he denied me it." The distress in his voice was pretty clear and showed how he was even a bit angered. "I swore to myself I would not marry you until I had his proper blessing and approval."

Cecil's brow raised and laughter escaped his blue tinted lips. Kain however, frowned in thinking that his lover was not taking him too seriously.

"Cecil. Do not think me jest, I will not put a single ring on any of your fingers until Golbez allows me to make you mine."

Wiping a small tear from his eyes, the holy man began to apologize, "Forgive me Kain. But I do think it is rather funny that you would be so upset over a simple rejection from my brother. You've been done in so much worse by him... Yet this is the scratch that finally sets off the bear. How did you even ask him?"

"I asked in this manner, I am going to marry your brother, may I have your blessing?"

I'm gonna marry her anyway.

Again Cecil began laughing as if Kain had just told him the funniest joke in all of Baron, and it agitated the dragoon even more to brink of walking out of the room. But before that could happen, Cecil again took his older lover's face in his hands and pressed their foreheads together with thumbs stroking his cheeks as he spoke, "Perhaps for my brother, you were coming on a little strong. He is coming over for dinner tonight, why don't you ask him for his blessing in a bit of a softer tone? Maybe even mention that I already said yes. You know he wishes for my happiness. That might compel him to give you what you want."

"If what you say is true, I will ask again."

Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life? (Say yes, say yes)

"Golbez! A word please?" Kain approached the mage with a confident stride and an equally confident tone in his voice. Just this alone would show anyone that he meant business in all seriousness. Perhaps even be threatened by it, most in Baron were. Yet Golbez was not. He stood just as straight and his own aura was threatening, but Kain would not waver by it. Asking Golbez for his blessing was just another mission to him that needed to be carried out with nothing but planned perfection.

And for Golbez, rejecting Kain was an order he believed could have been given to him by the gods. Turning to the smaller built male, he raised his eyebrows and spoke with his gruff voice, "What is it, Kain? Surely you do not wish to duel me out of revenge, just for the hand of my younger brother?"

A sly smile ran across the face of the dragoon and he shook his head with even his eyes sparkling under his helmet at just the very thought of triumphing over the older mage. "I would not even dream of dueling you. Though... I would like it very much so if you would so kindly give me your blessing and permission to marry Cecil."

"Now why would I do that, Kain? What reason would I have to give you the honor of marrying him?" A laugh much like Cecil's, but deeper in pitch came from Golbez. He was not laughing because he thought the idea of their marriage was silly, he was laughing because he found Kain's persistence to be very amusing. The fact of that showed in his deep violet eyes. Golbez had no intention of letting the young dragoon have his way with any part of Cecil other than a sexual non-committed relationship. It was probably because the sadist that remained in him wanted to see the blond male suffer with longing for what his pride would not let him have. And as his pride would have it, Kain's anger rose along with his voice as he decided to speak again.

Rude.

"What do you mean, why? Does it not occur to you that I have been making Cecil as happy as humanly possible? Not even Asura's love for Leviathan can amount to the heart ache I suffer every day just because of how much I love your brother. I ask nothing of you except for your blessing. Why is it so hard to give?"

With his smile growing, Golbez gave an answer that chilled Kain down to his bones, "Because. I do not want your happiness, Kain."

Tough luck my friend but no still means no!

Thank you again for reading this friends! I was a bit late on the update, and a little sloppy, and it's a bit short once again. But I'm doing my best to get it done! Review and rate please. :) -Kou