A/N: okay, I'm back to Lucien and his people. I like doing AryvisxRaminus, it's a lot of fun, just cuz they're so cute together X3 but this is some fluff and a little bit of Kismet hintage. If you've read up to chapter 10, this may make sense to you. If you haven't, this is just kinda cute.

Rating: T?

Warnings: guylove, more OOC-ness.

...

Domitius looked at his neck and shoulders in the mirror, a frown settling onto his lips as his fingers brushed over the seven hickeys and bite marks littered across his pale skin. Sithis, he'd be wearing his hood for weeks, waiting for these things to fade. Not to mention the slight ring around his neck, left by the 'leash'. "Your fetish scares me," he said to Aerius and Lucien, who were still lounging on his stone bed.

"Nevermind the fact that you were moaning like a whore the whole time," the Speaker smiled, "Besides, you gave me one when you fed off of me."

Aerius looked over at him, red eyes meeting the light purple spot on the side of his neck. "It isn't nearly as bad as mine."

The Listener had three little dark bruises in the crook of his neck, all ringed perfectly with the shape of Lucien's teeth. The Speaker grinned, showing said teeth, "I've had lots of experience."

"We can tell," Domitius mumbled, his eyes flicking over to Aerius as the Listener absently scratched at a thin, pink scar on his side. Lucien noticed this as well and turned to face him with clarity in his eyes.

"I remember these," he murmured, rubbing his thumb over another of the lines that were drawn into the Listener's torso. "Vicente regrets it, you know. He wanted me to tell you that."

"Who's Vicente?"

"The vampire who sired me," Aerius answered. "His sword had a fire enchantment on it, so when we fought he messed me up pretty badly."

"When you fought...?" Domitius mumbled, but soon remembered the Purification Aerius had been tasked to carry out when both the Speaker and the Listener looked at them with a kind of wounded expression. He apologized softly and turned back to inspecting his collection of bruises.

"Tell him that I miss him, when you go back," Aerius continued, his palm flattening against the tanned plane of Lucien's chest. "That I'm sorry it had to end the way it did, and that I hope he wasn't hurt too badly, physically or otherwise. He was important to me, and I was sad to see him go when I knew he wasn't the traitor."

Domitius felt a warm smile spread across his face. It was an incredibly sappy thing to say, and odd, considering his occupation, but also very sweet. "You aren't talking about Vicente anymore," he murmured, too low for Lucien to hear but a small smile spread onto the Listener's face.

The elder vampire himself doesn't want to look up at the Speaker's face, doesn't really want to see the frown of pity or contempt or confusion that must be there. He's actually afraid he'll be reprimanded when Lucien chuckles, "You're so terribly transparent."

He does look up at that, finally, and there's a sort of sad smile on his face. "I do have to go back," he murmured, his hand curling around the back of the Listener's neck, "I'm on a borrowed countenance. My body's still where you buried it. I'm not sure how long I have, but -"

"You don't have to get into this now," Aerius mumbled, stopping him mid-sentence, and leaned up to meet his lips in a soft press. Lucien pressed back, opening his mouth a little, and the deep chuckle he let out when the Listener pushed on possessively was drowned out by the warm thickness of the vampire's tongue.

Lucien's presence usually brought out the submissive side of Aerius, but knowing that he'd be gone quite soon made him want to grab the human and never let go. Said human lay back, mouth still firmly connected to his own, and growled happily as Aerius went with him, knees just around his hips and hands planted beside the Speaker's head. His own fingers curled into the backs of the Listener's knees as he bit lightly into his tongue before sucking on it. It was sexy and breathtaking and kinda cute and Sithis, where did he learn to kiss like that?

Technically Aerius, as a vampire, didn't have to breathe. Lucien, however, had an issue with that. He couldn't kiss forever, wasn't able to just hold it and have his nose pressed into the other's cheek as his face was accosted by a devilish mouth and tongue. So it was completely unfair when he had to break them apart, pulling his head back and pushing Aerius away by his forehead.

The vampire sat back on his ankles, a smug smile on his lips. "I forgot you have to breathe."

"Obviously," Lucien sighed, then caught the look of slight contemplation on the Listener's face. "What?"

"Did you ever consider leaving the Brotherhood? After you knew that there was a traitor?" Aerius asked quietly, black hair pooling around his shoulders now that he was sitting up.

"Of course not," Lucien replied evenly, a response the Listener was only slightly surprised to hear, "The Night Mother brought me to the position of Speaker, it was my job to take care of such matters. And what else would I do? I've been an assassin for years, I never had to learn any other trade."

Aerius nodded, satisfied with the answer, and the Speaker went on, "Speaking of quitting... I've heard tell that a certain Dunmer wishes to leave the Brotherhood behind."

"I thought you didn't spread rumors?" the vampire grinned.

"This is no rumor," but he smiled back anyway, "You know how this must be handled. His being a mage won't be an issue, will it?"

"Silence him and kick his ass," Domitius answered from the dresser, his completely serious expression visible in the mirror's reflection of him. Aerius looked at Lucien as if to say, 'There's your answer.'

"Can we not talk about this now, though?" the young vampire complained, "I feel disgusting, I need a bath."

"Indeed," Aerius sighed, getting down from his stone bed and wincing a little at the twinge in his backside. He pulled on a pair of loose breeches, just so he'd be decent on his way to the bath. Domitius followed suit and Lucien cloaked himself in his black robe.

As he opened the door the Silencer prayed to Sithis that Emilia wouldn't catch him on his way to the bath he'd promised himself. But the Dread Father held no mercy and there she was, coming out of the living quarters as he approached. He wasn't good at magic - no invisibility spells, damn - and his pale bare chest wouldn't allow him to meld to the shadows like he could in his armor.

Damn.

So he sucked it up and walked up to the door, and subsequently the short Breton girl in his way.

"Morning, Emilia," he said lowly and why in the name of Sithis did he have to yawn at that moment?

She gave him a look, that one that meant she knew why he was still tired. "Long night?" The sigh he let out was her answer, and her eyes roamed over his body, landing in the general area of his collarbone. "Wow, he doesn't usually leave that many."

With a frown Domitius realized that he wasn't getting out of this conversation, "He... um, he didn't."

Her brows quirked in that weird way when she was confused and he was afraid he'd have to explain, but that was when Aerius and Lucien showed up - thank the Night Mother - and they could explain for themselves.

"Good morning, Listener," she said sweetly.

"Morning," he mumbled back, then seemed to notice the lack of her Dunmer counterpart. "Where's Arya?"

"In the city somewhere, she said had to get a few things, so I le-" that's when she saw Lucien ghost up behind the Listener. "Is he knew? Why didn't you tell me!"

"Oh, ah..." he stepped back, "Lucien, this is Emilia, your successor. Emilia, meet Lucien Lachance."

The Imperial gave a brisk nod and a grunt; he'd do some proper introduction later. Emilia, however, gaped - Lucien Lachance? The dead one? The one who Arquen... egh...

She then managed to put two and two together and looked between the three men. "But... I thought... Didn't Arquen... How did you..." she fell short, trailing off and relying on her hand motions to convey her point. Lucien must've understood quickly, because he snorted and went around them, into the living quarters.

Then the Listener caught on. "Oh, he's intact," he smiled, a weird look of affection in his eyes - one that she'd only seen him give Domitius before - and followed the former Speaker. Domitius snickered. "Told you Aerius didn't give me these."

...

Domitius sighed, stretching his long legs out in the warm water of the large bath. A few places stung slightly - the bruises along his shoulders and collarbone, a light one on either sides of his hips, the familiar ache in his bottom. It didn't bother him anymore, in fact he enjoyed it a little, but it was fun to watch Aerius try to cope with his. The Listener hissed when the warm water hit his body, and Domitius just stared at him with a tiny smile on his face. He was over it quickly, though, and soon enough he started talking about the business with the Arch-Mage.

"Sithis, no," the Silencer whined, putting his arm over his eyes. "We don't have to talk about this now, do we?"

His answer came in the form of some tiny projectile smacking into his chin. He looked up; Lucien was glaring at him, but only a little. "I wouldn't have dared talk to the Listener like that."

"I'll stop when he tells me to."

"He never talked to me like that," the Speaker told him, inclining his head a little.

Aerius looked up at him. "That's because you scared me."

"So should I have," but there was a smile hidden in his voice.

There was a comfortable silence, broken by water sounds as they washed various liquids from their body - there was a little bit of dry blood smeared across the side of Lucien's neck, dried sweat contributed to the itchy feeling they all shared, and... well, you know the other one. Domitius noticed that his hair was beginning to grow a little too long - he'd have to cut it soon - and something came to mind.

"Lucien," he asked, tone pensive, and the Speaker acknowledged him with a grunt. "Do you have any other clothes?"

"At Fort Farragut," was the simple answer.

"Do you live there or something?"

"I did before I died."

He could say that once a minute from that moment until he was called back to the Void, he'd never be able to get used to that concept. Aerius must've agreed, because he frowned at the Speaker.

"We could go in a littl..." Domitius began, but trailed off when the Listener shook his head.

"Not until nightfall. You ate this morning; I haven't since yesterday."

(He probably didn't even notice, but Lucien scratched absentmindedly at the side of his neck when Aerius said this. When he snickered a little, they looked at him like he had a problem.)

...

When Lucien first caught sight of Shadowmere standing in Cheydinhal's stables, as beautifully dark as before he died, he couldn't help the smile that found its way across his lips. Aerius had taken good care of her - her dark coat shone in the moonlight, red eyes bright, strong, muscled legs stomping her hooves into the ground with impatience when she saw the Listener approach her. He stopped just short of the fence, hand resting on her long nose, before he looked back at Lucien.

"Do you want to see her or not?"

The Speaker snorted and approached, and the supernatural horse gave him a wary look when he rose his hand to touch her nose. He stopped halfway, though - she might've forgotten him and he didn't feel like getting bitten. Shadowmere sniffed at his hand, a look to her long face like she was beginning to remember him. She pressed her nostrils right into his palm and took in a few breaths; she let out a loud whinny and put her face flush against his hand.

"That's my girl," he murmured, burying his fingers in the long mane-hair that hung over her face. "She's been good to you?" he asked Aerius.

"Of course. She doesn't like Domitius, though."

"The broad bit me," the Silencer hissed, his hand to the nose of a bay horse not too far down the fence. "Screw her, Crue's better anyway."

Lucien picked up a rock and threw it at the young vampire. He got a glare in response, "I need you to stop throwing things at me."

"I need you to stop being ignorant."

Domitius rolled his eyes. "Are we going to Fort Farragut or not?"

At Aerius' nod Domitius vaulted the fence and mounted his horse; he whistled and the bay mare jumped the wooden barrier in one graceful leap. They took a few steps forward and stopped, turning back to look at the Speaker and Listener in wait. Lucien cleared the fence himself, mounted Shadowmere, and waited for Aerius to follow.

"Can she carry two grown men uphill?" the Listener asked warily. Lucien looked at him like he was insane; even Shadowmere raspberried like that was a ridiculous thing to ask.

"Of course she can, get on already. I haven't been home in six years."

With a little snort Aerius mounted Shadowmere behind the Speaker and they began up the hill to Fort Farragut. They kept the horses at a slow walk; the night was nice - a tad cold, but humid so it balanced out - and nobody really wanted to rush up the hill, anyhow. When they neared the actual fort Lucien motioned for Domitius to be silent - Aerius knew about his collection of Dark Guardians, but the Silencer didn't.

The fact that they didn't go into the front of the fort confused said Silencer and he shot a curious look at the Listener, who just shook his head. Aerius and Lucien dismounted next to a tree. A bloody tree. Why in Sithis' name did they dismount at a tree? Then he went over to their side of the tree and felt pretty stupid, because they'd been here before and knew that the tree was hollow and that there was a hatch down there. So he got down from Crue, left her with Shadowmere, and followed them down the ladder.

"Its been a long time," Lucien sighed, looking around his old home with slight appreciation.

"Indeed," Aerius agreed. Domitius just looked around in fascination - he lived in a fort.

Lucien went through his home like a storm, making sure this was there and he had enough of that, throwing out old portions of nightshade that had rotted, groaning when he found an entire barrel of spoiled poisoned apples tucked away in a corner - it took two hundred Septims to make one of those - and finally making sure his wardrobe hadn't been devoured by moths. It was all intact, and he resigned to just fall back on the bed when he was finished.

This night ended much like its predecessor - amazing sex and a long night's rest, all curled up into each other. Aerius drank the Speaker's blood this time, and Lucien declared that he was allowed to leave as many hickeys as he wanted on both vampires since they'd both fed off of him. Domitius didn't care at the time, he was pleasantly exhausted and the marks all over his neck and shoulders were only stinging a little bit... But when he woke up in the morning all he could do was groan in despair. Lucien just laughed at him, and even Aerius chuckled a little (even though he had a few new bruises of his own).

He liked Lucien. Did he really have to go back to the Void?

...

A/N: yeah, I kinda imagined them doing the Roman thing, one huge bathtub/house-type-thingamajig. Right?