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Part Seventeen

"Okay, what's wrong?" Enrique had been watching Oliver stare out of the limousine window for the majority of their trip from Jurgens Castle to the airport.
"I was thinking about Robert..." The French boy sighed. "...and, for such an intelligent guy, how stupid he's being."
"Just because he's going about things a little different to what you would-"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Like you don't know!" The blonde laughed. "Would Michael have even regained consciousness before you made your first move on him?"
"Give me some credit. And for your information, I did wait until he was awake."

"You propositioned him?!"
"Of course I did." Oliver didn't give the ridiculous question much thought before answering. "But... he turned me down for Robert - and Robert's too blind to do anything about it!"

"You have to give him more credit." As their ride came to a stop, Enrique winked knowingly as he leapt out onto the entrance way of the airport, reaching back into the limousine to take Oliver's hand in a chivalrous gesture to help him out. "I have a feeling things will work out."
"It better - otherwise my goodbye present to Michael will be of no use at all."

Michael crept out of his room and into the dark corridor, lit only by a few dying candles. Robert had pointed out on several occasions that the passageways leading to his private quarters were littered with medieval traps and Michael would be wise not to tread them without someone who knew the castle well to guide him.

Traps or no traps, he had to show Robert how he felt about him - tonight. So he made his way down the halls carefully; slicked and ready to go the moment he found his target's bedroom, thanks to Oliver's thoughtful parting gift of a tube of lubricant.

He thought it best to use it before he went to Robert's room - nothing would kill the mood like catching a glimpse of Oliver's private phone number emblazed in permanent marker across the tube in big curly numerals.

"I was hoping we would use it... together." The little green-haired boy had whispered, slipping it into Michael's hand. "Well, maybe later - call me, okay? Until then, show Robert a good time!"

Subtle, the boy was definitely not. Michael had been the same way... before finding true love. Before Robert.

Opening the double doors at the end of a particularly wide hallway, he was confronted by a huge room with another ornate door on the opposite wall. Lines of old, peeling paintings of purple-haired men in their finest armour hung adjacent either side of it, lit by gilded candelabras in each corner. A shrine to the Jurgens men of history... and they all watched him - judged him - as he passed.

Michael swallowed hard. He was without a past, without a family... with a future which barely extended beyond the plan of getting laid within the next few minutes. Johnny was right - Robert was too good for him.

"Fuck you." He muttered to himself - and to anyone who stood in his way. And he opened the doors to Robert's bedroom.

The figure in the enormous bed stirred in waking, and upon realising he was not alone, bolted upright to confront the intruder.

"Michael?! What are you doing here?"
He stepped forward, closing the doors behind him with one fluid movement. "I don't want to go back... I want to stay here with you."
"You have to go back." Robert insisted, awake enough to put up a decent argument. "You have commitments in America. I will not allow you to disappoint your team."
The boy shrugged off his jersey and tossed it aside. "I don't feel the same way about them any more."
"The moment you see them again, you will change your mind."

"All I'll be able to see is you." Michael crossed his arms over his front and began to pull his t-shirt up.
"Michael..." Robert spoke warily. "I do not know if I can do this..."
The redhead pouted, the moonlight catching his glistening eyes and sad lip, making his noble lover wish he could rid himself of his frigidity... somehow. Robert was scared - of what he felt, and of what his body urged him to do.

"Well, let me inspire you..." The All Star suggested seductively after an uncomfortable silence, ridding himself of the last skerrick of his decency as his shorts pooled around his ankles on the floor.

Robert's eyes dropped for barely a second to survey his lover's goods, blushing furiously as he quickly returned to looking at the boy's face.

It hadn't been as embarrassing when he had seen Michael lying naked and unconscious after the doctors had first attended him. But seeing that same body, hot and aroused before him did things to him - things reminiscent of his time spent at the boy's mercy in the training room.

Robert sighed helplessly. If he wasn't allowed to stop, his inflamed libido would leave his pure soul in tatters before the end of the night!

The muscular silhouette, outlined in iridescent blue, crawled across the rich expanse of brocade and lace, pulling it from Robert's legs as the pair came face to face.

"Michael, I..."
The burgundy-haired boy put his finger to his lips. "Don't talk."
Completely opposite in everything else that they did, their actions complimented the other as he craned his neck to kiss Robert.

Their kiss could have gone on forever, neither wanting to leave the taste of the other's lips. But whilst Robert was a man of old-fashioned romance, Michael was a man of action. His fingers clawed through purple strands, pushing the nobleman deeper into his kiss.

Robert's hands were gentle and scared as they touched his lover's bare back for their embrace. Their tongues met, slowly, almost warily, as Michael's hands ventured under the hem of Robert's nightshirt, running up his leg.

It was strange. Robert's hesitation and genuine respect for the act made Michael feel the same way. He'd slept with countless men and women, and none had meant a single thing to him other than a night of empty pleasure. This night was different. He hadn't even felt shy or scared the first time he had let someone take him, but as he stared into Robert's sincere eyes, he did. This time, it meant something.

Catching his breath, Robert rolled onto his back, revelling in the afterglow of an evening well spent. Michael curled up against his side, nuzzling his head into his chest, and sighing contentedly before drifting off to sleep.

Robert's mind was abuzz with new feelings and concerns. He laid awake, staring out at the silver moon against the dark sky through his window, lazily twirling strands of Michael's hair around his finger. A night of passion had cost him his noble soul. He had given his virginity to a common boy, and tainted everything that had once been pure about himself.

And as he held that common boy in his arms, he realised how little that mattered to him any more.

He loved Michael - he would shout it from the mountains which surrounded his castle, and he didn't care who heard it... or what price he would have to pay for it.