Pay by London

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem... if I did, there would be a hell of a lot more 'combined endings.'

Rated: T (as of now) for shounen-ai. Language.

-oOo-

Chapter 2: Actuality

It was late at night, or, if you prefer, early in the morning... And... since it was a Friday night slash Saturday morning, Naesala did what all grown men still pretending to be teenagers did: he raided the icebox for ice cream. This was not just any ice cream. This was the tastiest ice cream found within fifty miles of his kingdom.

It was... chocolate. And it was... lovely.

The King of the Kilvas was in a great mood. That rich bastard Tibarn leaves tomorrow morning with his idiot eavesdroppers while the pretty, pretty prince and his almost as pretty sister stay here with me! And to top it off I'm being paid, but not just paid! I'm being paid five thousand grand to make the little princeling lust after me. Paid AND laid. He licked his spoon clean, almost molesting it, in order to see himself in its reflective surface. "Look at you! You are sooo handsome. Even when oddly distorted by a spoon face! You are just sooo good looking. You'll have no problem winning his heart, you sexy devil, you!"

A voice approached from the doorway. "Nestling?"

"Who could not love your soft, silky, dark blue hair?" He turned his head left and right while patting his hair to view his hair from different angles. "Who could possibly resist your gracefully pointed ears? And your lack of shirts that properly cover up your gorgeous chest? No one can! Damn, I'm hot."

"Nestling?"

The egomaniac paid his caller no attention. "Oh, Naesala! Even your name is sexy. Naesala! Naaeesalaa!" he sang.

"Nestling?" Nealuchi said. He squinted a little to see better in the dimly lit kitchen. A single candle propped precariously on a metal stand illuminated the room just enough to satisfy the younger man's needs. "What are you doing, Nestling? It is nearly the fourth hour. You should turn in for the night." He nodded, mostly to himself.

"I was admiring myself in my shiny, shiny spoon," Naesala replied.

"You have no modesty, do you?"

"None. And I'll go to sleep when I want to, old man."

"Ehh... Mm. Goodnight then, Nestling." Nealuchi walked off, disappearing into the shadows of the hall.

-oOo-

Tibarn, Janaff, and Ulki left early the next morning. Naesala had not been up by then, despite numerous tries from terrified, young castle employees to wake him. It had not been a big deal for the Hawk King. He had never arrived in or left Naesala's domain with much ceremony. He would have, in fact, been quite surprised if the laguz had shown up.

'Nestling' finally rose from bed in the twelfth hour, contrasting sharply with his soon-to-be woo-ee. He had heard Reyson get up at dawn, singing hippie nature songs with Leanne and blessing newborn birds… or whatever it was that Reyson did in the morning. Bathe? Make daisy chains? Mm. Probably yoga or some other healthy shit. Good thing, too; Naesala had a few things in mind for later down the road that required some flexibility.

By the time he had eaten and made himself even more attractive than his wild, just-out-of-bed-after-a-hot-night self, the object of his imaginary affections was nowhere to be heard or seen. Well, the castle is pretty big, after all. Hm. I can't just go wandering around looking for him. It'll look like.. it'll look like I was wandering around looking for him! I must... walk with a purpose while looking for Reyson out of the corners of my finely shaped, beautiful, intense eyes.

He proceeded down the hall away from his room. Hm. If someone asks what I'm doing… what should I say? I was.. lost and looking for the bathroom? No. That makes me sound stupid. Hm. Wait. I'm the bloody king! I don't have to answer to anyone, no I don't. If someone asks, I'll laugh in his face! That's what I'll do. Ha, take that. I am a genius.

And of course, the thing one wants to find is always in the last place one will look. Probably because one has already found it and one would not look anywhere else for said object, but that is another matter. Moreover, One is a horrible name.

"Yo, Reyson!" Naesala shouted across the courtyard. It was the fifth courtyard Naesala had purposefully stalked past. The castle had five courtyards.

The Serene was seated on a stone bench next to a rather ugly tree that Naesala never liked. The trunk seemed to be a combination of multiple, twisting stalks. Moss covered the grayish bark and leathery, purplish… things served as leaves. Not only were the leaves ugly, the treeish monstrosity was also exhibiting some form of treeish balding. He had been meaning to transplant it to a different garden in the city but had, of course, never gotten around to it. Other more important things had always come first, such as money, war, and pleasurable company.

One such prospective somewhat pleasurable companion looked up, white, dress-like robes shifting slightly on his shoulders. Despite his promise to forget the past he narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. "Naesala…"

Naesala lifted himself off the ground and fluttered over to his guest. "It's been a long time since you've been here, hasn't it?"

"Yes."

"So I was thinking… and don't raise your eyebrow at me, pretty boy… that we should go have lunch at that restaurant you always liked! Sounds good?"

"Which... restaurant I always liked?"

Naesala clasped his hands together and leaned in a little, smiling. "Baine's."

"Baine's."

"Mm hm."

"I never liked Baine's."

"Oh." In an attempt to thwart awkward silence, Naesala continued in spite of this… setback. Mind you, it was a very, totally minor setback. A number of ideas sprouted in his brain, the least ridiculous of them sprang from his lips. "Would you like to go on a picnic?" Lame… but it was sure as Hell better than "Want to have sex with me?" That would probably have resulted in a not so painful slap that he would have only known to have happened by sight and sound.

Reyson's eyebrows came together slightly. "I didn't know you enjoyed picnics, King Kilvas." He smiled slightly and leaned forward. "I would have thought you were more of a… bar-and-brothel, rape-and-pillage type person."

"Reyson! You astonish me." He knows what a brothel is? Wow… "Come on, I'm not... that crude, am I? Meanie!"

"You shouldn't be calling me 'meanie' after selling off a certain close friend to a dirty, smelly, old pervert," Reyson countered.

"Hey, hey, hey. I said I was sorry. Let's not talk about that." Naesala dropped his pout and replaced it with a smile. He hid his leer as best as possible. "You wanna go or not? I know this good spot in Fiodore Forest south of the city."

"Er. Alright, I guess."

"Great!"

-oOo-

Mellaire had looked at him strangely when he told her to pack a picnic basket. He had never asked for a picnic lunch before. This was actually Naesala's first picnic ever. Poor boy… to be deprived of picnics until he was already well into his adult years! She was, rightly, a bit flustered. What do you put in a picnic basket for a king? I wonder what the seller will think when Zale pays for a picnic basket with royal currency. Mm.

I suppose... sandwiches. You eat sandwiches on picnics with ants in them. Do kings… eat sandwiches?

-oOo-

"So where is this fantastic spot, Naesala?"

"Almost there." Naesala didn't really know of any suitable picnic area in Fiodore. He figured that he would bring Reyson to the forest and settle down in the first reasonably nice place they stumbled across. Unfortunately, he had realized much too late that Fiodore Forest was marsh-like in some places and unsightly everywhere.

"Oh really?"

"Um. Actually…"

Reyson sighed. Here it comes. "Actually, what?" He pivoted on one foot to face the Raven King. If he was slightly girlier, he might have crossed his arms or put his hands on his hips.

"Reyson…" Naesala suddenly grabbed the other man by the shoulders and dramatically pulled him in, making sure to give him a good view of his chest. "In actuality… I didn't really want to go on a picnic."

"I never would have guessed." The fabric of Naesala's shirt pressing against his lips muffled his voice slightly.

"See, the real reason I brought you out here was so that we… could be alone." His guest blinked in confusion. Undaunted, Naesala carried on with his improvised love confession. He brought a hand up to Reyson's face and ran an elegant (though very manly) finger down his jaw. "You are… so pretty." Almost as pretty as me. "And your long, flowing…" He cast around for flattering adjectives. Unsuccessfully. "…sparkly hair makes has made me discreetly gape in awe and admiration every time I ever saw you. And…"

"Excuse me." For a guy who had once broken his hand from punching a man in the nose, Reyson put an impressive amount of strength into freeing himself from the rambling one's embrace. My hair is NOT sparkly. Hair can't even BE sparkly. What in the blazes does he think he's doing? And Tibarn's pecs are more impressive.

In a flash of typical hot pink laguz transformation light, Reyson morphed into a bird and took off towards the castle. Several thoughts sped through Naesala's mind. One such thought was, I'm cool with the whole slender white neck fetish but Hell, his heron form is CREEPY.

He watched him go, soundlessly. For a moment anyway. "Fuck."

-oOo-

To be continued. Nghmph. Hee. Guh. I can talk coherently. Really. Reviews are nice. If you see any inconsistencies, stupid typos, incomprehensible sentence structures, etc. please tell me. Thanks.