Valicer Multiamory Month, Day Four: N+1 things (Medieval Fantasy AU)
Day Four of Multiamory Month (as created by @polyamships) brings us another classic fanfic trope -- the perennial "N+1 things," where you write about N times one thing happened, and the one time it didn't happen or happened differently than expected (like the five times one member of a ship nearly said "I love you," and the one time they got it out)! And for some reason, the first thing that popped into my head while I was pondering this prompt was a follow-up to the fic I wrote for the Day Four prompt of last year's OT3 Week -- "The Knight, The Princess, And The Dragon Are Actually All Together!" With Victor being the knight, Alice the princess, and Smiler the dragon, and the situation being that Alice and Smiler are hiding out in a cave near Victor's home village (Smiler having supposedly "kidnapped" the princess from her home kingdom -- she actually fled willingly with them to escape the usurper Bumby) and Victor goes up there regularly to "fight the dragon," which here means "hang out with Alice and Smiler and get hypnotized by the latter for kinky fun times" (the fic has a Mature label because it just brushes up against getting a touch explicit at the end). I liked the universe I created for that fic, and this prompt gave me an excellent excuse to revisit it. :) Admittedly, this is a pretty short N+1 fic -- I was trying to keep from getting too wordy -- but hopefully you find it enjoyable nonetheless! Without any further ado, here is two times Victor was told "you don't have to go" by his partners, but insisted he did...and the one time he stayed:
Victor blinked, then looked back at the dragon – Smiler, apparently. “Er – yes, I do,” he responded, putting his helmet back on. “It’s getting late, and I d-don’t particularly want to walk home in the dark.”
“But we were having such fun! Why not just stay here overnight?” Smiler asked, tone wheedling as they curled their long yellow neck around him. “Go back in the morning. Claim we had a grand battle and it took all night. Your mother would buy that, right? Especially if I scratched up your armor a bit?”
“Smiler – I think we’ve taken up enough of his time,” Princess Liddell scolded with a little smile. “We do have to let him go sometime – especially if we don’t want anyone coming to see where he’s gone.” She turned the smile on Victor. “But I do hope you come back to see us again. It’s – it’s been nice, having someone else to talk to.”
Victor found himself blushing, and not just because of how hot his armor was. “It was nice t-talking to both of you too,” he murmured, returning the smile. “I’ll be back. I promise.”
“...you don’t have to go.”
Victor blinked, then looked back at Princess – at Alice. “Yes I do,” he said, flipping up his visor to frown at her. “Mother’s got a party tonight, and if I linger here too long, she’ll wonder what’s become of me, and – well. She’s the last person you want coming up here.”
“True, but – I don’t particularly want to send you back to her either,” Alice responded, rocking on her heels. “The more you tell us about her, the more awful she seems. And your father doesn’t sound much better, and…” She sighed. “I just wish I could keep you up here, away from them.”
“Same,” Smiler said, as serious as Victor had ever seen them. “Surely you could spare just another hour?” Spirals flashed briefly in their eyes. “Could make it worth your while.”
Victor’s heart ached, looking at their expressions – but he swallowed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, but – I don’t want them to catch you,” he murmured, turning away. “But I’ll be back. I promise.”
Victor stared out at the setting sun from the mouth of the cave, watching the shadows lengthen as the darkness took hold. He knew it was time for him to leave – night was falling, and if he didn’t make it home in time for dinner, his mother would not be happy. But despite that, he just – couldn’t get his foot over the threshold. He just stood there, staring at the outside world, thinking about how he’d spend the evening meal being lectured for not getting anywhere with the dragon again...about how his bed at home wasn’t nearly as comfortable as Smiler’s scales, or as warm as Alice’s body against his...about how he’d never felt happiness so complete as sinking into Smiler’s spiral gaze while Alice whispered in his ear...about how he’d started thinking of this cave as his real home, and how much it hurt to leave it, leave them, every time…
A pair of arms went around his chest, and a long tail wrapped around his legs. “You don’t have to go,” Alice and Smiler said in concert, voices soft and warm in his ears.
A few minutes later, an absurdly shiny set of armor went clattering down the hillside, helm-first.