TIMAEUS HAS HIT 500 REVIEWS! WOOHOO!
I must apologize for the late update. I planned ton update this weeks ago, but I had Faeriecon this past weekend and then RL got in the way but that's life.
So without further ado here is the next chapter of TIMAEUS.
I hope you all enjoy his "surprise"
Disclaimer: I own the plot and story Yugioh Characters belong to Kazuki Takehashi
Chapter LXIII: Garden
Like the shipwrecked sailor existing the Serpent's mouth, Yugi felt rejuvenated and mystified as he stepped through the glass door and onto the roof top terrace with a gasp of awed amazement. Like its own secret world, hidden at the top of the universe, the rooftop was not a bland simple space for cooking or sitting or sleeping in warm weather, but a rich, thriving roof top garden like some fantastical juxtaposition of meticulous order and rugged wildness. He had seen glimpses of the gardens below: surrounding the palazzo with rivers and flowers and trees for pleasure and fun, and the orchard and vegetable gardens close to the kitchens: this was not one of them. Yet unlike the standard, manicured pleasure gardens of the palace with their enormous man-made ponds, geometric flowerbeds and alternating alleys of trees, or the secular temple gardens reserved for growing ceremonial flowers and herbs, this garden was wild and overgrown, but quaint and quiet, private and personal, seclusion and serenity. This wasn't a place to boast of wealth and host parties. It was a place to think, to relax, to escape.
Entering this secret, sacred place felt almost like sacrilege, but wide-eyed with wonderment Yugi was too excited to care. He stepped out onto the terrace, giggling as his bare feet felt the welcoming caress of the smooth stones, warmed by the sun; the soft gentle kiss of the wind teasing his hair, the feathery brushes of the leafy foliage like a teasing lover, the breeze cool but the sun just warm enough to clear the last the fear and fatigue and anxiety from his mind.
With every step his feet brushed some new plant, wet with the mid-morning dew. Found some new clinging climber reaching out to tease and touch him, found some new path to travel and explore. Though the main roof was all flat stone, winding gray paseos wove around patches of soft green grass before disappearing beneath and understory of dense, woody shrubs. Unlike the trees and shrubs of home with their tall, slender stalks and, sword-like leaves, these were dense and woody, diverse in their green colors and textures: raised beds boasted dense, bushy shrubs with elliptical dark-green leaves, overgrown and spilling purple and blue flowers and deep green foliage among the paths.
Yugi followed one beneath a pergola draped in festoons of vigorous climbers: woody with elongated dark green leaves and bursting with fragrant white flowers. Pushing the leafy vines aside, he spotted a bench complemented by overgrown tangles of delicate pink climbing roses. Though the dabbled light he spotted another bench nestled against a bushel of bursting greens and potted plants. More were strategically placed in shades area. Another pergola was bursting with hanging festoons of brilliant blue or white flowers above a small sitting area. The walls, Yugi noted with pleasant surprise, were absent of any colors of paintings, instead tangles of bright green vines bursting with spade or star-shaped leaves crept and climbed up the parapets: a blanket of foliage sporadically scattered with tiny white and purple flowers.
Whirling about Yugi noticed, woody saplings grew in their own private pots or platforms: their bark was rough and textures, their branches stretched like arms and their leaves were long and leathery or broad like bright green hands. One taller and darker with spiny leaves boasted fleshy red fruits, another, dramatic in height offered shade under his abundance of slender leaves. Herbs and wild flowers grew in large clay pots, he noticed, many of which he recognized: the golden-hearted white daisy with its bursting white petals like the morning sun, the clusters of five-petal pentacles of the jasmine plant, the slender, feathery leaves of the coriander, its umbel blooms the pales of pinks, the thorny, sweet-smelling roses.
Others, however, were foreign and new to him: the daisy-like flowers with bright blue and purple petals and a tall, similar shaped flower but with a large spiked heart; the broad, silvery-green leaves of a leafy shrub, a spherical chrysanthemum-like cousin with an explosion of deep colored petals atop its stalk, a brilliant-blue specimen with its flowers dropped down and hanging like sistrum bells, and a beautiful, bright purple flower nestled in a cluster of velvety silver-green leaves, the color reminding himself much of his mothers and his own. Yugi inspected each one with childish wonderment, demanding names.
Aster. Coneflower. Sage. Dahlia. Bluebell. Violets.
It was pure delight, Yugi decided as he spent the next hour sniffing and sampling every flower, stroking the skin of every leaf and tree, touching and feeling the prickle and pinch of needles and thorns. He knew he would forget names, which ones were already in bloom and which ones had to wait until summer, and which ones were hardy and would be green all winter, a genus Timaeus affectionately called "evergreens".
He didn't feel childish or immature when he jumped into the grass and spun around feeling grass and dirt beneath his feet. Didn't feel foolish for asking what he was certain were basic questions. Timaeus only smiled and nodded and explained.
By the Gods, it was like stepping into the wall paintings he thought again, one animated by the fragrance of flowers, the fluttering of leaves and the sounds of birds.
This, he realized, this was a secret world of wet and wild and growing things. It was…weird, he decided with a laugh. Weird and wild and wonderful, so different from the manicured, geometric gardens he'd adored at home, but not the less beautiful, and he loved them more for it.
"This place is gorgeous, Timaeus!" Yugi beamed from one of the walls where he'd stopped and reached for a flower growing among the thicket of vines. But the parapet's height and own lack of it got in the way and he growled until Timaeus plucked it from the vine and wove it in the lock of hair behind Yugi's ear.
"I'm glad you like it," he said with a slow, deep grin. "We're fortunate to have arrived in the spring, or I'm afraid you would have missed most of the blooms."
Yugi chuckled, his yes bright and beaming. "I'm glad then! I've never seen so many flowers!"
Turning back around, taking in full view of the gardens, off in a corner, he spied a hidden set of stairs disguised by greenery, leading led to a raised platform where another pergola was covered in pendulous racemes of brilliant purple flowers, Timaeus had called wisteria. Spurred by curiously, Yugi rushed to explore. Up the steps, he found a modest sitting area complete with two wooden chairs, a small table, and in the corner an outdoor couch. Most of all, he discovered, was a balustrade overlooking the most breathtaking view of the city he had ever seen.
More than their windows, or the cliff sides or the river could muster, here Yugi saw it all as if he were a bird: the stretch of the mountains and cliffs, the beach and shorelines, the rivers running up and down the city, and the silver and white city itself sloping down the mountain sides and to the shore, but beyond that he could see the famed canals, both the smaller ones that wove like streams throughout the city, but also the larger ones encircling the country and connecting the rings of land and city by wide bridges and the surrounding walls. If he looked far enough into the horizon, he imagined he could just glimpse the capital city rising like a mountain of its own from the mists. With the fading afternoon light as a backdrop, all of Locri and Atlantis shimmered white against the brilliant green and blue of the horizon and sea.
Like some fantastical city, he thought, except that it was real, it was alive, it was…
"Home," he whispered to himself with a lazy sort of smile.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Yugi spun slowly around just as Timaeus ascended the steps. True to form, he slid his arms about Yugi's waist and Yugi relaxed in his embrace. "Yes, it is." Yugi agreed, his eyes still dreamy with nostalgia. "It truly makes you think and feel and consider…everything."
"Indeed, it does," Timaeus agreed resting his chin on Yugi's shoulders. "I believe, perhaps that is the first Magister crafted this particular part of the house. So, he could always have a way to see his city, a peaceful city, a reminder to himself of what he was protecting."
Sensing something else in the tone, Yugi asked, "Timaeus? What is this place? It's more than just a roof top garden isn't it?"
"Perceptive, my little one," Timaeus chuckled but his eyes flickered with something that wasn't humor. "This…is to me what the lotus pool is…was," he corrected himself. "To you."
Yugi's eyes widened. A thousand questions filled his mind, but he forced himself to stay silent. Timaeus squeezed him tighter.
"It is my Secret space," Timaeus confessed, his eyes distant, his voice a lost murmur. "Well, to be more honest, it is the private garden of the Magister, and reserved only for him and his family, but for me…when I first became Magister, I was so lonely and inexperienced and had no one to talk to. If ever the duty became too much, I would steal away up here and somehow…I always felt better." He exhaled, long and deep, and breathed in the spicy perfume of wisteria.
Yugi stayed silent and listened, aware he was privy to something secret. Something private.
"Mai was the one who first told me about it, did you know?" Timaeus frowned, voice wispy. "I was so young when I came here. Everything here felt so big and overwhelming, and I was terrified of failure. I was a Trierarch, after all, not a Magister. I had no one to train under, no apprenticeship, and absolutely no knowledge of ruling. I had only my wits and my instincts and the trust of a people who knew nothing about me…" his voice clogged and drew a breath sharp with restraint.
This time it was Yugi who squeezed him tighter. He felt Timaeus relax against him and smiled.
"I did not think I would ever feel at home here," he continued. "I missed the center city, though I never felt at home there, either. I did not know who to trust and who would use my weaknesses against me, and I was so afraid…" A crack in his voice and he stopped and had to exhale, slowly and deliberately. "Yet when I first came up here, it was…like a dream. Here, I could think. I could breathe. I could look out and see the ocean so close I could almost touch it." His fingers curled in the air as if he meant to do just that. His eyes, dreamy with the memory: in them was a shadow of sadness. Then his eyes closed tight. Stress line marred his cheeks as if battling the memory. "Oh, Gods I missed the sea."
Yugi remembered Timaeus mentioning the time in his youth he had spent at sea, but swallowed his question, thinking better of it than to ask. Instead, he reached out his hand and cupped Timaeus' cheek.
At first, he flinched, but once he collected himself, Timaeus gave a small hum and relaxed into the touch.
Yugi's lips curled into a wide smile. "Perhaps, you didn't have an apprenticeship, but you are a very good Magister."
Timaeus chuckled. "And how do you know that? You have not been here but a week and this is the first day you have stepped outside our bed?"
Yugi forced himself not to flush. "A day is all I need," Yugi gave a sly counter. "My father and brother always said a day is all you need to see a city and know if a man is a good leader. You can always tell when the people's love for their monarch is true or falsified and yours is not. Your people love you."
Timaeus flashed a warm smile and lifted Yugi's fingers to his lips. He smiled wider at the pink coloring Yugi's cheeks. "And I have no doubt that, in time, they will love you, just as I do."
"You're so certain," Yugi said, though Timaeus caught the uncertain question.
"I am," he smirked in that dashing way of his: slow, and easy and devastating. Yugi shivered "But for those days when the duty becomes too much," he gestured a hand. "These gardens have always been my escape, my sanctuary. Now they are also yours."
Yugi's eyes widened. "I—thank you," was all he could muster.
Timaeus gave a light-hearted chuckle. His warm voice and that sonorous baritone washed over Yugi.
Timaeus kissed his cheek. Then he reached over and plucked a fat, purple plum from one of the nearby saplings. He split it easily enough and offered Yugi the second.
Yugi devoured it greedily, drippling purple juice down his chin and, catching the hungry look in Timaeus eyes, wiped it a way with a slow, playful smirk.
With a growl, that was all male, Timaeus warned. "Careful how you seduce me, little one." His voice was low and rough, and his eyes wondered in the direction of the couch. "I am more than willing to play, but the question is," he slid his arm like a serpent around Yugi's waist, pulled him against his hard, heavy chest. His flashed: a spark of smugness. "Are you willing to lose?"
Yugi suppressed a shiver. "Is that why there are so many comfortable places up here?" Yugi said, a concupiscent challenge. "A place for the Magister to sneak off with whatever house maid meets his fancy? It is for the Magister only, after all?"
A burst of laugher, a debonair grin, a guttural murmur of. "Such a wicked mind, my little bride has? Hmm," he pondered, bright-eyed and amused. "I suppose he could, but it would be quite difficult to do so if the Magistrate decided she would like some time apart from her maids and mothers seeking her opinions, wouldn't it?"
It was Yugi's turn to laugh. "I suppose so."
"Although, if you must know," Timaeus humored him with a flamboyant sigh "I suppose I could tell you."
Yugi rolled his eyes, clearly unamused, but Timaeus was all hungry-eyed and grinning: his lips twisted into a bright, curled smile, a smile Yugi knew all too well. "It comes from an old tradition, when Atlantis was a country of swamps and lagoons and her people none but tribes scattered to the islands, and the reason why our marriage beds should be carved from trees—because marriages, as the custom goes, are important and, like all things that are important," His eyes blazed as he spoke, his lips curling with a merry sort of wickedness. It was then Yugi realized how close he was, how warm his breath was against his skin, how his hands brushed against the solid wall of his chest as he slid his body into the amazing fit of his.
"They should be consummated in open air."
The words sank into Yugi's mind and he blanched.
"Though me personally," Timaeus continued and has the audacity to wink, his smirk, a boyish grin. "I think it was for practicality sake. Can't annul a marriage once the whole county has born witness to it, can you?"
Yugi's mouth dropped open and his eyes expanded in shock. "I…I…"
The smile, he sported nearly split Timaeus' face it curled so wide. "Oh come now, are public displays of affection and passion not common in your country?"
Yugi felt his face burning. "Th-that's not the point!" He shook his head, swallowing. "I don't believe you for one second, you liar."
"A liar am I!?" Timaeus' whirled back and away with an incredulous gasp.
Swallowing the laughter that threatened to burst from him, Yugi snorted. "Yes, you are!" He wheezed through thick gasps of air and did not mistake his scandalized face of anything other than what it was.
"Huh! How dare you!" Timaeus mocked a gasp, the scolding high and dramatic. "You insult my honor!"
Unable to suppress his laugher, Yugi bellowed so hard he had to hold his sides. He screamed as the other was on him in a graceful pounce, barely managing to avoid the quick fingers. He dove under Timaeus' arm, the hanging vines and all but leapt down the steps. He hid among the hedges, but his laugher gave him away. Timaeus was quick on his heels, mimicking a dragon with his growls and leaps as he chased Yugi all over the garden. The boy's smaller size and cat-like agility, a useful ally in the narrow nooks and crannies of the rooftop jungle. More than once, Timaeus had to stop himself to keep from crashing into pots and saplings. He quickly changed tactic and slid among the climbing vines. When Yugi backed against one of the pergola's giggling with victory, he pounced. Yugi shrieked with terror and indignation as he was hurled off the ground and slung over the man's shoulder and beat furiously at his back, angrier that he'd been caught then by the actual gesture of it.
"Ut-uh, little spitfire," Timaeus chided wagging his finger. "You've insulted me, now you must be punished."
X X X
"You!" Yugi growled his face wild and livid and he clawed at the couch cushions threatening to swallow him in feathery softness. The expression reminded Timaeus of a kitten forced to have a bath: all teeth and claws and hisses. He suppressed a giggle by snorting instead, but his pearls of laughter only made Yugi more indignant, and his face scrunched up in an angry pout. "What were you thinking!?"
A smile slit Timaeus' face.
Yugi froze and swallowed. He knew that smile.
"I think," Timaeus purred with an indulgent grin. With deliberate slowness, his slid onto the couch and crawled over his retreating little wife, gently pushing him against the comforter and trapping him between the firm muscles of his arms and the solid wall of his chest, both positively rippling from use. His glazed eyes glanced Yugi over in a way that made him feel marvelously weak and fluttery.
He swallowed again: it was all he could do to keep from whimpering in admiration.
"That I like the pretty way you blush," he stroked Yugi's cheek. "That delicious way your eyes sparkle when you're nervous…or aroused" he added after a deliberate pause. "And the stubborn way you refuse to admit to either." He pressed their foreheads together and ran his fingers over Yugi's chest, listening to the rhythmic bum-bum, bum-bum of his heartbeat. "The way you're heart pounds for me…"
And pound it did, so loud Yugi could hear its hammer in his ears.
"And I think that," eyes shadowed by a ravenous hunger as they met Yugi's, Timaeus' lips curled. "I want to fuck you on this couch until you scream so loud my entire city can hear you. Or perhaps. I should bend you over the rail, so the entire city can see and hear how I make my wife scream with pleasure?"
Yugi's eyes expanded, flashing some bizarre combination of surprise, rage, want, shame, indignation and embarrassed desire. "And…you called me wicked." A hoarse counter.
Timaeus barked out a laugh, eyes slitting with want. "Oh, I love those expressive eyes of yours," he purred propping his chin in his palm and stroking Yugi's cheek. The younger tried not to think of the beautiful, breathtaking way his hard, heavy body curled against his, nor the warmth burning his skin through the silver doublet and soft, green velvet. "And how whatever it is you are thinking appears so clearly on your face?"
"I—I—I-do not!" he stuttered: wide, violet eyes flashing with mortified protest.
"Oh yes, you do," Timaeus teased, victorious in his smugness. "As for right now, though you find it embarrassing and perhaps a little bit frightening, you are thinking that you would very much like me to bend you over that railing and fuck you until the whole house and country can hear you screaming."
Imagining him doing just that, Yugi's face suffused with color. His whole body hard and hot and…oh Gods he wanted him. He wanted him to make him writhe and whine and scream under him, above him, against the pillar, over the rail, and anywhere else in this garden and house he could think of.
Timaeus' spine muscles tensed, and he choked out a laugh. "Such a wicked, little thing you are."
Yugi only grinned, his eyes half-lidded. "I am married to a mean, scary, dragon."
Timaeus' smoldering gaze washed over him, leaning closer, his lips barely a whisper's breath away from his and like the stubborn little imp, he was, Yugi cocked his head to the side, bird-like and without a trace of the innocence he projected. A coquettish wink, a mischievous tug to his lips, all confidence, all smiles, all charm.
Manipulative little sprite.
"First of all," fingertips slip under Yugi's knee, pinch their way up the back of his thighs. "I am the Chief of the Three Dragon Knights, Trierarch of the Eye of Timaeus and the Magister of Locri," A pinch for each title. "And while we're at it," slips his hand in front now, tip-toes higher, higher, making Yugi shiver. "I'm also your husband,"
Yugi's body relaxed in surrender, lifted his eager thighs, green velvet sliding in rivulets up the length of his legs, tracing curves and outlines, thighs quaking in anticipation, lips parting with a quiet moan, awaiting the brush of his kiss,
"Don't." A growl followed by another pinch. "Call me," slid between his thighs. Yugi shook, shivered, his fingers clawing at the cushions. "Mean."
He pulled away completely, stood straight and strutted off.
Yugi blinked once, twice, then shot up, furious and fuming, "You—" Rage clogged his throat.
He stopped, turned, smirked. "I did say I was going to punish you, did I not?"
Oh, how Yugi looked like he wanted to shriek. His eyes darted for something to throw, but Timaeus was quicker and had already left off the steps and was half way down the path when Yugi came barreling after him. Timaeus spun in his heels, caught the boy in his arms and kept him pinned as Yugi shrieked and raged, unable to stop himself from laughing.
They eventually collapsed in a small thicket surrounded by ivory: Yugi stubbornly remaining silent and sticking his proud nose high. Timaeus unapologetically kissed that nose, and to his chagrin, Yugi blushed.
"Hungry," Timaeus bribed with a fresh, split pomegranate. Yugi's stomach won out and he scooped up handful do sweet, ruby seeds, licking the juice from his lips. Timaeus pulled down a few more fruits, identifying their names and trees: the fleshy, purple, fig-shaped ones were plums, the ones that looked like pale green rain-drops were pears. Other were still in bloom and would bear fruit in summer, others as late as autumn,
"And all of these have been here since the first Magister?" Yugi asked fascinated.
"Not all, I imagine," Timaeus explained, biting into his second plum. Given he had a pear and a whole pomegranate before that, Yugi would almost think he was indulging himself. "The evergreens and perennials grow back every year, but I suspect every Magister in some form have contributed to this collection. I have certainly added throughout the years." He pointed to the flower pots, the herbs, the pomegranate sapling in its own special bed.
"Are they you're favorites then?" Yugi asked, scooping up another handful of pomegranate seeds.
He nodded. "Not all of them, of course, but most." He brushed the juice from his lips. "You are more than welcome to add whatever you like as well."
Yugi chuckled, recalling the pleasure gardens of his childhood, fondly. "I doubt you could fit a lotus pond up here."
Timaeus laughed. "It would certainly be a lovely addition, but I think the ponds in the house gardens will have to suffice, if you truly wished for one."
Yugi spun to him immediately, eyes beaming. "Are they?"
Grinning, Timaeus finished off the last of his plum. "I was going to wait until after our Redamancy to surprise you, but if you truly wish to…"
Yugi nodded, vigorously.
His heart warming, Timaeus surrendered.
I know its late but i hope you all had a spectacular Halloween!
This chaper was one of the funnestand trickest to write: the garden scene was something I had planned on for a while but originally it was going to lead to a secret garden around the grounds ubut some research in Venice (and some stunning photographs i found at a few art show) inspired me to switch it to the roof since roof top gardens and filling the streets and windows with potted plants is a big thing. Second, i had to do a LOT of research on Italian and southwestern plant lief in the area where ancient Locri was around the time period (which is also tricky since modern southwest italy and ocri gets mediterranean weather because its on the coast and Atlantis, is more landlocked despite the three surrounding rings.
I also realized I was gong to have to change the time frame of this story, so that they arrived in Locri in SPRING or summer rather than winter so i could have all the flowers blooming, but given there was never a specific season in the beginning I don;t think its that bad (originally this story started in summer to coordinate with the Nile flood season so those big Atlantis ships would be able to travel up and down the river, but given that season goes from July/August to Novemberish I figured it occurring during what would be Kemet's spring worked just as well.
I* think my favorite part was that little flashback of Timaeus' dont you think ;)
As always read, review, comment, critique, ask questions and go nuts :) Flames welcome but only w a reason.
NEXT TIME: Timaeus and Yugi explore the ground and Yugi finds marriage to be quite the learning experience.