my very first CaPri fic, dedicated to my bff @basil-at-221b who always said she would be first in line if i ever decided to write for the one fandom we actually have in common!!! lol, so here, have some Lamen fluff, and happy birthday my love <3
Damen pursed his lips to keep his laugh inside his mouth where his lover couldn’t hear it and said one more time, as clearly as he could manage: “Rural.”
Laurent, with his brow furrowed in utmost concentration, very carefully arranged his mouth to mirror Damen’s, and echoed him: “Rural.”
The word still came out garbled, the double R’s swallowed and slurring into the L, and Damen lost the battle against his mirth. The chuckles bubbled up in his throat and spilled out no matter how hard he tried to fight them down, and Laurent’s focused look was immediately replaced by a glare that would’ve struck fear into anyone else’s heart. It just made Damen want to kiss him.
Laurent batted his hands away when he reached for him though.
“Don’t laugh at me, you big brute,” he said. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re not taking this seriously?”
“Perhaps because it’s not nearly as serious as you’re trying to make it,” Damen countered. He reached for Laurent again, this time succeeding in pulling his lover across the small space between them, leaving rumpled bedding in his wake. Laurent ended up in Damen’s lap, but only grudgingly so, a stubborn pout on his face.
“How is it not serious?” Laurent demanded. “Damianos, how am I to earn the respect of your kyroi if I cannot communicate with them clearly and effectively?”
“Laurent, sweetheart, it’s one word,” Damen reminded him gently. “Your command of the Akielon language is without question. The imperfect pronunciation of one word will not lower you in anyone’s esteem. Not even Nikandros.”
Laurent raised an elegant eyebrow and Damen was forced to concede.
“Alright, perhaps Nikandros. Though, to be fair, he’s never held you in high esteem to begin with.”
Laurent rolled his eyes. Some of the indignation seeped out of his frame anyway, leaving only a true frustration behind. His fingers flexed on Damen’s shoulders, clutching on as his posture softened. Damen wrapped his arms around Laurent’s waist to keep him close, and this time Laurent put up no resistance.
“Lover, it’s simple,” Damen told him. “If that word stymies you so much, then avoid it. It’s one word out of thousands.”
“One pertinent word that describes thousands of Akielon citizens,” Laurent countered. “How do I discuss the issues that affect those people if I can’t name them?”
“Think of it as a challenge,” Damen said. “We all know how much you love challenges. I’ve known that silver tongue of yours to do miraculous things, lover, so challenge it now to make everyone forget they’ve ever even needed that pesky word in the first place.”
A slow smirk spread across Laurent’s face, beautiful and devilish all at once. He swayed into Damen’s embrace, a curtain of blond hair swinging forward to brush against Damen’s shoulder.
“Miraculous, you say?” he purred, leaning in that much closer until he could get his mouth on his husband’s neck.
“I did mean linguistically,” he said.
“Of course you did, lover,” Laurent murmured, lips tracing down, over Damen’s collarbone, pressing over his heart. He glanced up through golden eyelashes, blue eyes bright and dancing with mirth of his own. “But you know better than anyone how I strive to excel in all fields.”
Damen’s heart thumped out of rhythm, heat stirring in him as it always did when his husband looked at him like that. “I do,” he said.
“Then allow me to demonstrate my prowess,” Laurent said, nimble fingers pushing at the folds of Damen’s chiton. “I may not be flawlessly fluent in Akielon just yet, but as you’ve so astutely observed, there are plenty of other ways in which I can apply my talented tongue.”