Lucien was in bed. He was lying and while waiting for Mundy to exit the bathroom, he was day dreaming.

Mon Dieu... Life really does twist and turn. Who could have known? First I end up with a man and now, I have a son... The love of my life is next door and my son is home with me, with us. I couldn't ask for more and I couldn't ask for better. Even if I could, I have no idea what I would ask! Were a genie to appear before my eyes right now and ask me what I want, I would be one of these lunatics, one of these utter fools that would answer 'Nothing.' I have lived an eventful, some would say adventurous, life. I have cried, hated, argued, fought, killed and finally, I am loving for real. Not like we love a brother or a parent, not like we love a friend. I love like a fool. I love like an idiot, a decerebrate imbecile.

He smiled to himself.

And what a lovely feeling it is, to love unconditionally, to not have to hide anything. Maybe what I feel is freedom. Maybe that's what Mundy brought me. More than a shoulder to cry on or lips to kiss, he set me free from... from..

His thought hesitated. He was touching a very sensitive spot.

... myself.

He opened wide eyes.

Mon Dieu...

The bedroom door opened and Mundy appeared, his hair still wet from the shower he had just taken. He closed the door behind him.

"You alright?"

Lucien shook his head briefly as if to sweep away those thoughts.

"Uhm, yes, yes I am. Actually, much better now that you're here."

Mundy smiled and climbed on the bed. He was bare-chested and was wearing a pair of grey shorts. He slided next to Lucien who then rested his head on Mundy's shoulder.

"What were you thinkin' about?"

"Nothing important."

"Well you looked like you made a discovery with your eyes open like that, when I entered."

"Well, if you want to know..."

"I do."

"I started to realise how valuable you are to me."

"Oh..."

Lucien put his hand on Mundy's chest.

"You turned my life upside down."

"That doesn't sound good."

"It didn't at first. But then, I let myself go... You made me let myself go."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you trying your best to learn French, you don't care about what people would think if you made mistakes when you speak, you just go for it, you try! And if you fail, well, you listen to me, you trust me even though you of all people know who I was, what I was. I correct your mistake or point it out and you continue..."

Mundy was confused and was not understanding where Lucien was going. He nonetheless let him continue without interrupting. He knew how hard it could be to translate your exact thought in a foreign language and he was grateful that most of the time, when they were alone, Lucien was speaking in English.

"You behave very simply, you don't lie or hide. You speak your mind, you never lie. You are a simple man, in a word, my absolute opposite."

He paused for a second.

"And then I saw you at the zoo. You speak of those birds and take care of them with passion. You don't just do it for the money."

"Well most of us at the zoo know that we are lucky to work with such species. We make the most of it."

"Yes, fine, but you do it with... so much... charm. You make it look easy! Remember when you invited that big blue and yellow macaw on muy shoulder? Well, I realised how much you loved animals then. I felt his claws digging ever so delicately on my shoulder and I was twisting and bending my back and shoulders to find the best position possible for it. Now when you had it on your shoulder, you didn't even flinch, you naturally know how to deal with animals."

Mundy smiled and leant his head on Lucien's. He turned his head slightly to leave a kiss on Lucien's head.

"And that made me think, as it still does. See, you are excellent with wild animals. You are not scared of them, you go towards them with the respect they deserve, especially with the dangerous ones. And somehow, somehow, you tame them, they trust you."

Mundy put his hand on top of Lucien's on his chest, sliding his fingers between Lucien's. Lucien was on Mundy's right so he had put his right hand, the scarred one, on Mundy's chest and when Mundy put his hand on top, he felt them. He felt the despair and deep sorrow Lucien was in, right before they met.

"And now I think you have tamed the wildest, most uncivilised of them all."

Mundy raised an eyebrow. Of course Lucien couldn't have seen it, but he felt it.

"Of all people, only you could do it. It seems obvious now, it makes sense! The patience, the selflessness, the passion and above all, as Maman France said the other day, you are kind-hearted, very much so. And that's something you never showed when I first knew you. I had never imagined you could be that kind. If my present self could go back in time and tell my past self how I see you now, my past self would laugh so much! It's completely unbelievable!"

Mundy smiled.

"Pff, speaking of unbelievable things, can we talk about you then?"

"What about me?"

"Well, for starters, I had never seen you being... well... romantic."

"Oh, come on, I had my reputation. Everyone knew I was good with the ladies."

"Yeah, yeah but I had never seen you... doing it!

"Doing what?"

"Being romantic, sweet, soft-spoken. All I ever got from you was that very cold-blooded, arrogant, selfish attitude of yours! That's bloody far from what I would describe you as today, in fact, you couldn't be further from what I think you are today."

"Oui! But what I'm saying is that this change in me happened thanks to you. You managed to get something out of me that I thought I had gotten rid of."

"But why would you get rid of... being nice?"

"Because I grew from a child to a man in the dirty streets of Paris, because I then got hired by the Ministry of Defense as a spy and because I became one of their very best ones... Mundy, I was trained to not be human and the further I got from being empathetic, the louder they applauded and the more they paid me. That's what killed the person that you have brought back to life."

"It's good that you realise you've changed. And it's very good that you changed. But you know what would be better?"

Lucien raised his head.

"What?"

Mundy turned on his side and looked at Lucien in the eyes. He got closer to him so their faces were but a couple inches apart. There were both lying on their side,facing each other, devouring with their eyes the beauty they saw in the other's face.

"You're doing it again."

"Whot?"

"Your pupils..."

Mundy smiled and answered, half whispering.

"Yours as well."

He closed his eyes and kissed Lucien, pulling gently on his lips. Lucien closed his eyes and melted. He felt Mundy's hand on his cheek and sliding down on his neck. He broke the kiss.

"Merci mon amour."

[Thank you my love.]

"You're welcome. Wait, what for?"

"For everything."

Mundy smiled.

"Well, then you owe me a lot!"

"Truly, yes, I do."

Lucien put his fingers on Mundy's cheek and carressed it. The Australian blushed, closed his eyes and smiled.

"So, tomorrow you take Jérémy with you to the zoo?"

Mundy opened his eyes.

"Yeah."

"Hmm... Speaking of the zoo, how is your colleague... what's her name again... Mélanie?"

Mundy raised an eyebrow.

"She's fine... why do you ask?"

"Is she still... interested in you?"

Mundy blushed.

"No... uhm... I mean..."

"It's ok if she is, I don't mind. If anything, I can only understand why..."

"She's kind of... yeah..."

"Ah, interesting. And so you were saying you were going to take Jérémy tomorrow?"

"Yeah, and depending on the state of the eggs, I might spend the night there."

"Ah, yes..."

Lucien looked down.

"Don't give me that look, please."

Lucien raised his eyes and his pupils were wide.

"Now you look like a sad kitten, how am I s'pposed to resist that?!"

Lucien kept the sad face going on, just to see how Mundy would react. To his surprise, Mundy's face slowly looked sad as he felt his index and middle finger under his chin. Mundy came close and sowly brushed his lips, lightly, delicately on Lucien's. He hardly made contact with them, making Lucien want more. The latter, feeling the sensitivity and gentleness in the kiss, rolled his eyes up as he closed them and lost his mind. He felt so weak, he let himself fall on his back. Mundy turned with him, so that his lips never disconnect with Lucien's and towered him. He finally removed his lips and backed off very slowly.

Lucien had still his eyes closed. He could almost still feel Mundy's lips on his. Mundy, seeing that Lucien had completely fallen, went down and dropped his lips very slowly on Lucien's neck, on his right side, under his ear. The Frenchman jerked his head up, as if he was possessed. He couldn't even moan, he exhaled a bit louder. Mundy let his lips do all the work, travelling slowly down Lucien's neck. The latter felt shivers, his body feeling a light spasm each time Mundy's lips touched the surface of Lucien's skin.

But all of a sudden, Lucien felt Mundy's teeth on his neck, he opened big eyes. He was about to let a cry of pleasure out, when Mundy rapidly put the palm of his hand on his mouth.

"Hm-!"

Leaving his hand on Lucien's mouth, Mundy continued to bite Lucien's neck, going from Lucien's right side, to his left, while still towering him. Mundy then sent Lucien in orbit with his tongue. He closed his eyes and was floating in space. A warm, sweet and empty space. He looked around him and all he could see was black, punctuated by the stars. His trajectory was straight and slow until Mundy's tongue pushed him, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right. He was sent spinning in weightlessness. In his mind, the world had ceased to exist. There was only him and Mundy. He was manipulating him like a puppet master, pulling on his strings of pleasure slowly, skillfully. Lucien was no longer controlling his limbs. He opened his eyes as Mundy had stopped and gone back to lie next to him. Lucien was still breathing heavily.

"You... Monsieur Mundy... Are quite the surprise to live with..."

Mundy smirked.

"Is it bad though?"

Lucien smiled.

"Quite the opposite."

Mundy put his hand on Lucien and felt his heart trying to calm down. He stroked his chest.

"I would have loved to continue but..."

"I know, Jérémy is here. Let us not go there..."

"Yeah... Let's sleep then."

Lucien smiled.

"Well maybe you can, but I will stay awake for a while now..."

"Uh?"

Lucien sat up on the bed, his back to the wall. He pointed at his kimono trousers, the top part of them. Mundy looked down and saw that, well, he had had quite the effect on his lover.

"Ah, sorry luv'."

"Don't be. If anything, you should feel proud, you're the only man on Earth able to provoke that."

Mundy smiled.

"I'll stay awake with you then."

"Merci."

Silence fell for a minute.

"Speaking of Jeremy, d'you know how long he is going to stay?"

"Non, I don't know."

"And... uhm... Can I... I mean that's none of my business but..."

Lucien looked down to Mundy.

"Go on, tell me what you want."

"I mean I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anythin'..."

"Mundy, if I don't want to answer or if I can't, I will tell you. But you have to ask first."

"Roight..."

Mundy sighed.

"Have you asked about his mum?"

"What about her?"

"How is she?"

"Jérémy told me she had found someone and she's happy with him."

"Oh, good... I guess..."

Mundy sat up next to Lucien, his back also to the wall. He turned his head to look at Lucien.

"What do you think?"

"Same as you, it's good for her."

Lucien paused for a moment.

"I would have thought I would feel something like... not jealousy but..."

"Bitterness?"

"Oui, something like that. But look at me now, I am actually happy for her."

"You say that as if it were a bad thing."

"Non, of course it's not a bad thing. I'm just... surprised."

Lucien turned to Mundy.

"I would expect myself to feel bitter, as if I got beaten and replaced by another vulgar, common man. But no, I don't feel that at all. I used to, back in the days. When people would talk about one of the ladies I've, well, spent some time with and how they were then with another man... I would make disdainful comments, as if that would..."

He was looking for his words.

"Show that you are superior to the new bloke."

"Oui...!"

Lucien had answered very spontaneously and without thinking.

Mon Dieu... He really knows me and understands me better than I thought...

"... I am double surprised now."

"Whot do you mean?"

"Not only am I feeling happy for her, but I'm realising how well you understand me. You are litterally stealing the words off my very mouth."

"Well, I would steal more than that from your mouth but your son is next door."

Lucien smiled and shoved Mundy with his elbow softly.

"Listen to you! You've made quite some progress in the flirting business."

"Oh, j'ai appris du meilleur."

[Oh, I've learnt from the best.]

"You know that your speaking French with your accent is really not helping me, right?"

Mundy looked surprised and sad.

"What?"

Lucien pointed down again.

"Your speaking French... well... it... uhm... how may I say that in English...?"

"Say it in French."

"Quand tu me parles français, ça réveille une partie de mon corps que je ne peux pas ignorer pour dormir..."

Mundy frowned.

"Say it again, but slowly."

"Ah, oui, sorry, I might have spoken a bit fast..."

Lucien repeated what he said word by word. Mundy paid a lot of attention.

"So you're saying 'When you speak French to me, it wakes a part of my body up that I can't ignore to fall asleep'?"

Lucien blushed and nodded.

"Mh-mh."

"Dans ce cas, je vais continuer!"

[In that case, I will continue!]

"Tu veux vraiment que je passe une nuit blanche?!"

[You really want me to pull an all-nighter?]

"Oui, s'il te plaît. Demain je ne dormirai pas avec toi... Je veux juste... Toi... Je te veux..."

[Yes, please. Tomorrow I won't spend my night with you... I just want... You... I want you...]

Mundy was whispering and the waves of air that he blew in Lucien's direction diffused in his head and flowed to his chest and his whole body tensed up.

"Mon Dieu, Mundy..."

Lucien turned quickly to his left side and kissed Mundy passionately. He dived in and surprised Mundy, who felt Lucien's delicate fingers running all over his body, like eels swimming past his body, sending electric pulses on his skin. He climbed on him and sitting on Mundy's pelvis, he put his hand on each of his temples, drowning his fingers in Mundy's hair.

Your turn to fall, Mundy.

The poor Australian man was completely taken aback, so his first reaction was to try and resist, give as much to Lucien's sweet lips as he was receiving. But Lucien cheated again and used that very strong card that Mundy couldn't counter. And so he sank in a deep, dark blue ocean of desire and pleasure. He was sinking while twirling round and round under Lucien's tongue. As he sank, he met first with small fishes but they did not follow him to the deep. Then a couple dolphins circled around him before swimming away. An impressive and slow whale majestically went past, above Mundy's head and blocked any moonlight that was going through the water. The bottomless blue abyss was relentlessly sucking him down as Lucien's fingers went to carress his chest and then sank down...

Mundy opened wide eyes all of a sudden, his pupils retracted instantly. He broke the kiss. for an instant.

"Lucien..."

He whispered as he felt the Frenchman's carress was charming another kind of eel... Lucien was not going to be as reasonable as Mundy had been. He gave up trying to resist and let Lucien in charge. He tried to not breathe too loud. He had gone back to the surface of the ocean but the waves were growing bigger and he was now in the middle of the rough sea. Lucien had become Poseidon, God of the high seas. He controlled the waves to lift him up and would summon another one to make him dive again, oh so deeply. Mundy thought he would drown! But all was carefully mastered by Lucien and the inconsistency or rather the lack of regularity in the waves was made on purpose.

"I love you and all I want is you, now, and forever."

Mundy blushed intensely and closed his eyes. He struggled to swim back to the surface, took as much air as he could, despite the storm going on and answered.

"Lucien, mon amour, ne me quitte jamais, s'il te plaît, ne t'arrête jamais!"

[Lucien, my love, never leave me, please, never stop!]

Mundy saw that he was trapped, Lucien had stirred the ocean round and round until he created a impressively large whirlpool. He tried swimming away from it but who can resist Poseidon while at sea? And it pulled him in as it made him follow the current round and round in a spiral. Each circle he completed made him come closer to the eye of the storm and he looked around him. No one. Not one creature was being pulled in. The eels, the dolphins and the whales were all gone. It was only him against the powerful tides of Poseidon. He looked up, the stars where tinkling shyly, even the moon did not dare interfere with Poseidon's will and hid behind a cloud.

That's it, I'm done for.

Mundy looked left and right but nothing and noone could save him. He was so close to the eye...!

"Mon amour... je..."

[My love... I...]

He grasped the bedsheets furiously to resist but the eye gulped him down violently and quickly. He opened his eyes all of a sudden, his body jerking up and biting his lip to not moan.

My God...

He shut his eyes and breathed loudly, trying to catch his breath after the sea had washed his tired body ashore.

Lucien lied next to him and looked at his chest go up and down quickly.

"You... are... a bloody... legend..."

Lucien smiled proudly.

"Yes, I am."

Mundy wanted to shove him back with his shoulder but he was too tired. Instead, he just took a deep breath and his chest calmed down slowly.

"Also... You're a devil."

"You say that as if it were a bad thing."

Mundy, his eyes still closed, smiled.

"Well, it's like... sometimes... nothing can stop you..."

"But you."

Mundy slowly opened his eyes, he still couldn't move his limbs. There he was laying, on the bed, motionless, like a starfish.

"Oooh my God... I... I didn't expect you to take me to the end..."

"Well, you said it, tomorrow we won't sleep together. So I thought I might give you... an incentive to come back to me as soon as you can."

Mundy sat up, his back to the wall, next to Lucien.

"Mate, you didn't need to do that."

"Non, I didn't, that is true. But I wanted to. And something tells me you don't regret it."

He said, winking.

"Oh, Mister is perceptive! What made you think that?"

Lucien held Mundy's hand and rested his head on his shoulder.

"Un espion garde toujours ses secrets."

[A spy has his secrets.]

-- Author's notes --

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