“Ah, I thought I heard you calling, Heika. Is everything all ri–”
There had been many moments in Conrad's life that he could safely say were 'changing' for him. Times of great political turmoil and war, when he'd been on the front lines, leading out men younger than he to battle and often to their deaths. Friends had come and, sadly, friends had been taken from him. The people around him had provided a rich and colourful backdrop, with their many idiosyncrasies and foibles and eccentricities.
None of these things had prepared Conrad for what he saw as he passed the high courtyard arch and entered the gardens on this particular moonlit evening.
“What ever you do, Conrad, please don't laugh.” Yuuri's face had never been redder. Well, not to Conrad's knowledge. Now he vaguely resembled a humanoid beetroot. “I uh... Not quite sure how this happened, really. I was just walking in the gardens, after you suggested I get some fresh air before bed, and I... uh.” Slowly, Yuuri's eyes wandered upward, to where his left arm was bound over his head by a thick silver manacle, then to his right arm, where another manacle twinned the first. These shackles were connected via a short length of chain to the top of the vertical metal table Yuuri was currently bound to.
Conrad was struck by a wild urge to laugh, but he reined it back as he reined the horses he took out to the fields to break. “Heika,” he said, striding to where Yuuri was trapped. “An interesting find, I must say – one of Anissina's inventions?”
Yuuri lowered his head, arms splayed above him like some martyr being punished for his cause. “Yeah. She was showing it off to Gunter earlier. Said I wasn't allowed close because it's a secret gift for my Coming of Age ceremony.”
Raising an eyebrow, Conrad stepped forward and reached up in one swift movement, giving one of the manacles an experimental tug. He was careful not to accidentally touch the king, careful not to notice his proximity to Yuuri. The vertical table and the restraints seemed sturdy enough, well made and polished to a shine. “Hm. So during your wanders, you decided on a certain route around the castle. A very convenient route.”
“I didn't know it'd still be here! I swear. I only came this way...”
“Just in case it was?” Conrad stepped back to a safer distance before risking a look at Yuuri's face, which he found was still flushed in the pale moonlight, darkest at the cheekbones. Within the grip of the device, Yuuri squirmed a little. Within Conrad's stomach, far, far down, an answering squirm emerged – one he would rather not evaluate too closely.
“I... yeah.”
“I think this teaches us it's always best to have the maker of a contraption such as this with you when you decide to try it out.” With a curiosity he couldn't suppress, Conrad once again assessed the device. As far as he could tell, there was no apparent lock or screw to release the manacles. “One moment, Heika,” he added, doing a quick circuit around the back of the table. “Ah, there appears to be a lever at the back, among many wires and clumps of solder.” Just what was this device meant for?
“Oh, good!” Yuuri called. “I can finally get out of this thing. Honestly, what kind of person hides a secret in broad day – or uh, rather, broad moonlight?”
“A clever one,” replied Conrad, completing the circuit and standing before Yuuri again, this time with a small smile curling his lips. There was a high possibility Yuuri wasn't going to like this, but Conrad had an idea – one that might prove fruitful in future, whenever he knew Yuuri was out alone and Conrad was not there to protect him. “But I don't think they imagined you would actually try to use it without knowing what it does.”
“I still don't know what it does, except kind of... hold me here. It's not the most exciting present I've ever been given.” A frown creased the skin between Yuuri's eyebrows. “Uh, did you pull the lever?” He gave the restraints a little tug. “Doesn't seem to be letting me go.”
“I didn't pull the lever,” Conrad told him.
“Oh. Right.” Yuuri's frown deepened. “Why didn't you pull it?”
“Because,” Conrad said slowly, stepping up to Yuuri. “I don't think you're ready to be released.”
This was met with a bewildered look. “Huh? But I'm the king. Aren't I?”
“You most certainly are, which is why it's imperative you're careful at all times, in whatever you do. Inserting yourself into strange entrapment devices is not the sort of thing a king should be filling his time with.”
“Oh boy, this is going to be another lesson, isn't it?” Yuuri groaned.
The off-hand manner irked Conrad. This wasn't a game, nor was it meant to be fun. If the device had really hurt Yuuri, put his life in danger – Conrad didn't want to think it.
“Indeed it is, Heika.” Although, Conrad was starting to wonder if he'd thought this one through. Standing at the back of the machine it had seemed like a good idea – give Yuuri a little more time to think through how dangerous his actions tonight had been. But now, looking at the young man sprawled upright in front of him, his cheeks dusted that blushing red, his eyes so dark they were almost fathomless in the milky moonbeams, the stirrings of manhood dashing every line and stroke of his bone structure...
Definitely didn't consider this dilemma. Sadly, it was too late. One thing Conrad never did was falter, especially not in the face of his charge – his king.
“So I guess I've got to stay like this?” For some reason, Yuuri's voice was faint.
Conrad watched him, found himself being drawn to Yuuri's eyes again, drawn down into their depths. Best to look somewhere else. With a hand he was careful to keep steady, he reached out and straightened one of the buttons on Yuuri's black jacket, pushing it back into its rightful hole. Perhaps, when Yuuri had got trapped, it had come loose. Or maybe Yuuri had been in such a hurry to get down here and see his surprise gift that he'd only been half paying attention when he was putting on his jacket. The possibilities were endless for why that button had been wayward; they played out in Conrad's mind, distracting in their vibrancy.
Not so distracting though that he missed the faint gasp.
Yuuri was looking up at him with his mouth parted and moist, his eyes seeming to glitter. Suddenly, Conrad was all too aware of Yuuri's position, the way he was spread out in front of him – just inches, mere inches. “Heika–”
“Conrad–”
Both stopped, looked at each other. Conrad watched Yuuri's Adam's apple bob up and down. Inexplicably, against his steely resolve, he found his hand sliding up, fingertips brushing button after button until the buttons were no more and Conrad found himself stroking up the length of Yuuri's neck, feeling that firm rise that bobbed again quickly.
Yuuri's next breath was deep and loud and shaky. There was something wrong with gravity. Or maybe the device had wheels he hadn't spotted at first, because Yuuri seemed closer. Brighter in Conrad's eyes.
The crunch of grass under his boots reported he'd taken a step, a step he hadn't even realised. Now Conrad could feel the heat radiating off Yuuri, heat that was energetic and a little from embarrassment, heat that smelled of him – adolescent and fun and earthy, with the beginnings of a masculine musk he would no doubt exude when he'd put on a couple of years.
“It's Yuuri, you know that,” Yuuri said softly, a slow fan of shadowed eyelashes blinking against his pale cheeks.
“Yuuri,” Conrad repeated, the word rolling off his tongue like butter. It always did. Always. Sometimes, he was sure he could almost taste it.
Yuuri closed his eyes.
Dear sweet Shin Makoku, thought Conrad, whose hand went forward again without thought, just a reflex. To touch – another one, maybe Yuuri's face, or his hair, or – Conrad stopped, warmth spreading through his body, travelling down past his hips, settling there and bubbling hotter.
No.
Duty. First and foremost – Yuuri's safety. Yuuri, who was tied, who Conrad would not take advantage of, not even a little, not even as everything in him screamed for one more touch.
“Conrad?” Yuuri didn't open his eyes, but oh, his mouth. His mouth.
“Excuse me, Heika,” said Conrad, and with every shred of resolve he had he forced his hand down to his side, then took a step back. Then another.
Yuuri was looking at him now, his flushed face shining with the faintest sheen of sweat. No wonder – the heat there, right beside him; Conrad had felt it too.
With strides that became more determined the more he took, Conrad went around the back of the table and yanked the lever down. From there he heard Yuuri stumble forward on the grass, mutter something like “Oops”, then silence.
“If that will be all, Heika,” Conrad said as cheerfully as he could. Yuuri probably wasn't fooled, but he too offered a too-bright smile and averted his eyes as Conrad re-joined him. “I think it would be best if you went and got some rest.”
“Uh, r-right. Yeah, rest. That's what I'll get.” Yuuri gave him an odd little awkward salute, then turned and began walking towards the arch, stopped, half-turned back, seemed to think better of it, and continued on his way. He didn't look back, walked almost mechanically in the direction of the castle.
Ignoring the pressure straining the front of his trousers, Conrad glanced at the machine, the muscles in his jaw working as he tried not to picture Yuuri still held there, spread open like that.
Conrad had intended to teach Yuuri some self-control, it had seemed such a good idea. However, he realised as he walked stiffly away that he'd learned a lesson, too. One he would never forget.
~Fin~
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