Fic: An Honourable Man
Title: An Honourable Man
Beta: Many thanks to savvierthanu and 7ofEleven for being the enablers to pull me into this fandom in the first place and giving this a bit of spit and polish!
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 7,333
Pairings/Characters: Esca/Marcus
Warnings: AU, clothes!porn
Disclaimer: Not mine, dammit!
Summary: Marcus Aquila, Lord of Calleva Manor, receives an intriguing invitation from an old army friend.
(Response to ninja_orange's kink meme request, Period/Regency AU, otherwise same prompt - Marcus is lord of the manor, Esca is the gardener's son, here)
A/N: Last week I was badgered by savvierthanu and 7ofEleven to come and join in the fun that is the Eagle fandom. So I did and it has been vastly amusing and I have made some new friends *waves*.
I wrote my first fill for the_eagle_kink meme and got some lovely responses and was told to post it up on my journal as well to de-anon. I can’t resist peer pressure it seems! One of the commentators also dubbed this the “Regency Stripper Porn”, which I think fits it well!
Enjoy.
“Thank you, Stephan,” Marcus, Lord of Calleva Manor said as he waved a hand in the air to dismiss his Uncle’s man.
He turned the letter carefully over in his hands, feeling the quality of the paper under his rough fingertips. He couldn’t remember a time when he had the hands of a gentleman. He might have been born into the gentry but always he had been a ‘rough and tumble lad’ as his mother was wont to remind him.
Marcus looked up and Stephan was still standing there. “Go! You have done your job and I thank you for it,” Marcus ordered.
Stephan opened his mouth to speak again but at a glare from Marcus he turned on his heel and left the temple, hopefully to return to the house and leave Marcus in the peace that he desired.
It was why he had escaped out to the gardens. Away from servants prying eyes, away from the noise and bustle of the house and questions from guests, who just happened to be passing by and thought to drop in, about the War.
Thoughts of the Campaign, that last final battle where they had defeated that damned Corsican once and for all at the expense of many a good man’s life on both sides, filled Marcus as he ran his finger over the seal on the letter.
The smoke, the rain, and finally the mud, crops and blood intermingling was the stuff of his nightmares, and the sight of the Duke’s seal was enough to bring it all back. The charge and decimation of the Imperial Guard, the first time they had been beaten and Marcus was one of those instrumental in the defeat. His wound from the Peninsula campaign had opened up again during that charge. His blood loss wasn’t going to stop him once he sighted the Eagle though. Napoleon wanted to be a re-born Roman Emperor, well Marcus was determined to take his honour with the capture of the Eagle. Capture it he did and a bloody hand to hand fight it took, gentleman’s rules out the window when the battle lust was upon them all. He retreated only to have his horse felled and his return to the line halted. He would have died out there like so many of his men if it hadn’t of been for the actions of one other. Confusing actions that Marcus decided he really did not need to be thinking about.
As he went to break the seal, and break his reverie of his thoughts of that fateful, terrible day, he looked up. A shadow had extended into his line of vision and what he saw had him holding his breath.
Esca, bane of his existence.
The former gardener’s son, friend of his youth who followed him to battle and came out with many an honour himself. The man who had saved his life and brought nothing but confusion since. He was standing in the doorway, blocking out the light from outside and the view of the land that his father had so proudly and carefully cultivated for the Aquila family. No homespuns for Esca, now it was fine clothes he could see. Those long lean legs in tight buckskins, his shoulders that were so broad for one on the smaller stature set off perfectly in a tight morning coat, a hint of a high cravat at his neck and his hair, so thick and artfully disheveled with the light from the sun outside bathing it in a golden hue.
Marcus set his jaw and waited for Esca to explain himself. After a period Marcus knew that this was going to be just like their youth, both too stubborn to concede.
“I take it I have you to thank for this?” Marcus said as he waved the letter in the air. Last he had heard, Esca had been appointed to the staff of the Duke, while he was sent back to England to recuperate and sell out with all honours. He had wanted nothing more than to be a soldier like his father all his life and now it was over, a dream gone and he was back having to be a Lord of a Manor. Lessons he had hated as a youth he was having to dredge up and here was his reminder in the flesh that he could never fight with honour for his country again, but Esca had and did.
“I am just the messenger, the faithful hound that brings whatever his master requires,” Esca replied, his chin rising in the air in that stubborn, prideful manner of his.
“More a wolf than hound,” Marcus muttered. Esca might have looked slight to most others, a small man who many would glance over and never think twice about but Marcus knew better. There were strong muscles under those clothes and a quick and nimble fighter. Pride was Esca’s downfall and one that Marcus knew well as he had it himself in spades. Esca’s last real discussion with him came back to his mind and had Marcus slapping the letter down on the bench.
Wellington’s letter forgotten as Marcus stood and stalked across the room to Esca.
“I thought you once claimed that no man would ever be your master?” Marcus spat out. “You and your willfulness.”
“Hah!” Esca stood tall as he glared at Marcus in return. “I am not the one who thought it was a bright idea to hide his injuries from others. I heard what you told the other officers about me, it’s why I was recommended to the Duke. None better to give the word of honour than the man who captured the Imperial Guard’s Eagle. You are more discomposed that I didn’t come running back to you?”
“Why would you come running back? I am just the man that you kissed in the middle of a battlefield. Or do you kiss many men?” Marcus leaned forward to hiss his question in Esca’s face. He had to bend down to do it, such was Esca’s short stature. Marcus mentally shook himself for asking after the kiss. He had spent too long on that conundrum of why Esca had done it.
Esca had refused the Eagle when Marcus tried to hand it over. The smoke from the cannon’s had enveloped the pair of them on the field so it felt like they were the only two men left. Marcus felt the dissipating warmth from his horse as he lay dead behind him. There was the stench that he was coming to know only too well all around and then there was Esca, refusing to take the Eagle and telling him he would be back. That thin mouth, set in it’s mulish line, the broken slightly crooked nose and the blue eyes, so intense. A look that Marcus wasn’t sure to make of passed over Esca’s face and then he lifted a hand and rested it on Marcus’ cheek. Shock and warmth were the two feelings that Marcus was able to concentrate on before shock became the main one. Esca had leaned forward quickly and pressed a kiss to his lips. For that moment Marcus felt the rough, dry lips and then as he pulled away, he left sweetness and a desire that Marcus had been aware of blossoming fully.
Esca had disappeared into the smoke and Marcus had memorised that view as being possibly his last good memory while on this earth. It was not to be as Esca had reappeared out of the smoke with a wry smile on his face and reinforcements. How a lowly soldier had managed it many would wonder, but Marcus knew Esca. He was just in time as the French had re-grouped and were charging upon them again. With Esca at his side he fought his retreat back to the line and the safety of the hill, the Eagle still in his possession. At it’s sight there was a great cheer and he glanced to Esca to smile at him and received one of his rare smiles in return before his world went black and he woke up days later in a farmhouse and mercifully his leg still attached. Esca was nowhere in sight.
“What are you more upset about?” Esca asked. “That I might have kissed others or that I didn’t come running back to you?”
“You shouldn’t kiss anyone,” Marcus said as he turned on his heel and marched back across the room to the bench.
“Anyone or only you?” Esca called across the room at his back.
“Hush! Do you want us both to hang?” Marcus tried to silence Esca. This was not a conversation they should be having and he ignored his own conscience that he was the one to start it.
“I would rather hang for more than a kiss,” Esca declared.
Marcus spun around in shock to find Esca stalking purposefully across the room towards him. “I would be a poor friend of yours if I neglected my duty and no, I have not kissed others. Why would I when all I dream of is you?”
Marcus blinked at him in confusion. What was Esca telling him here? He opened his mouth to question Esca again, when Esca stopped him by grabbing hold of his waistcoat and pulling him forwards.
“You wear too many clothes,” Esca whispered before he was pulling him closer still and rising up.
Marcus leaned down, drawn by some invisible force so that he and Esca could join their lips together again. He watched as Esca lowered his lids over his eyes, taking that blue from Marcus’ sight. It was enough for his memory though as this time the kiss was not a short hard press of dry lips. Esca pushed and teased to encourage Marcus to open for him and he did. He slipped his hands around Esca’s body to hold on and ensure that this time Esca was not going to leave him.
“Never,” Esca whispered around kisses as he slowly pulled his lips away. Marcus glanced down to see that Esca had been busy working his buttons loose on his waistcoat.
Marcus blinked in confusion and then gasped as Esca slid his hand down over his breeches and cupped him strongly.
“Too many clothes,” Esca murmured. “Do you know how hard it was for me to stay in France, waiting for news that you were alright? The first I heard we were already in Paris and word came that you had survived and made it home. I was so relieved but then there was so much to sort out.”
Esca made Marcus groan as he squeezed tight on his cock.
“I’m not sorry that I kissed you. I have wanted to for a long time. That day at the pond, remember, and seeing your strong body naked, I wanted and dreamed. Now I will not wait. If I am to hang for this then let me have the great pleasure of having you naked.”
“Esca -” Marcus tried to protest, but the hand rubbing on his cock was driving him mindless. “If you have me.”
“When,” Esca declared as he leaned up to lick at his neck. “When I have you.”
“Oh God,” Marcus groaned as the image of Esca pushing him naked onto a bed came to his mind.
“Upstairs,” Esca ordered.
“What?”
“Upstairs. If I know Stephan and the others, the rooms upstairs will be in perfect condition. You gentry and your little love-nests out here in the gardens. My father used to tell me all about them and now I can put one to use. I want you upstairs. I have waited far too long but I have done my duty and now I am here. I will have you.”
Marcus blinked as he felt the flush on his skin at Esca’s words.
“You have too many clothes too,” he admitted as he lowered his head, sure that there would be a blush staining his cheeks. This was too wrong in the eyes of God and the eyes of the law, but no one had ever made him feel as Esca had. Marcus wondered if he dared to take what he desired so badly and had since the middle of all that death.
He raised his eyes to find Esca staring at him. An inscrutable look that Marcus did not know how to interpret. Esca then let go and stepped back. Marcus allowed his hands to slide off Esca’s body, memorising the feel of the superfine of the coat under his fingertips. He wanted nothing more than to hold on, but his honour demanded that he allow Esca to move away. His body and mostly his cock twitched at the loss of contact with Esca. Confusingly for Marcus, Esca walked over to the door that lead upstairs to the small room on the western side, facing the park.
Esca paused at the doorway and considered Marcus. Then he did something very unexpected. Esca slowly started to remove his coat. No man would dare to remove his coat in company, it was beyond the pale.
“Esca! What are you doing?” Marcus protested as he strode forwards to stop him.
“What does it look like I am doing?” Esca responded as he dangled his coat in his fingertips in front of Marcus, before tossing it to land on the steps behind him.
The full sleeves of his shirt were now on view. No longer encased in the tight blue sleeves. Inside those sleeves, Marcus knew that the arms were wiry strong and muscled. On his right arm there was the tattoo that had fascinated Marcus since he had seen it. Marcus licked his lips as he considered that if Esca had removed his jacket, he would be just as likely to remove his shirt as well?
“Marcus,” Esca ordered, “look!”
“Huh,” Marcus responded as he tore his eyes away from staring at the white linen. Esca had a slight smirk upon his face and with a blink indicated that Marcus should be looking down. He did and it was to see Esca’s nimble fingers slowly unbuttoning the cream waistcoat.
Marcus felt warm and brought his hand up to pull his shirt points away from his neck. Esca was slowly stripping his clothing off in front of him.
“Esca,” he groaned.
Esca just smirked more broadly in return as he shrugged the waistcoat off his shoulders. Marcus watched in fascination as it slowly made it’s way down his arms. Esca’s chest was pushed forward as he dropped the waistcoat down on the steps behind him, just like he had with the coat. Both garments lay sprawled on the stonework like drunken soldiers after a hard fought battle. All loose and spreadeagled, of no use to any officer or to themselves.
“Come Marcus,” Esca invited as he stepped back onto the first step.
Marcus hesitated for a moment until Esca trailed his fingers up his body and then started to pull at the cravat around his neck. At the first flash of skin revealed, Marcus took a step forward, drawn to that hint of pale skin like a drunkard to a skinful of ale. Esca pulled the long strip of linen from around his neck. The noise it made as it slid against his shirt sent a shiver reverberating down Marcus’ spine. Esca’s heavy lidded eyes peeked at him as he stood there, cravat in one hand trailing down to pool at his feet in stark contrast to the black sheen of his riding boots. His other hand was playing with the top button on his shirt. Marcus bit his lip to stop himself from surging forward.
“So proper, Marcus. Always doing the right and correct thing. The Right Honourable Marcus Aquila.” Esca was trailing a finger back and forth across the exposed part of his neck. “Do you want, Marcus? Do you need?”
Esca took a step back and up the first step, a promise in his eyes that had Marcus growling and breaking free from his position. Esca stood his ground and raised his chin in that prideful manner of his. Marcus prowled towards him, intent on getting to Esca and stopping him in this wilful tease. As he reached to grab hold of the shirt of Esca he realised his mistake. Now he was in Esca’s hands, where Esca wanted him. And Esca did just that, sliding a hand around his neck and holding him in place so that he could lean forward and kiss him again. A hard kiss, a kiss of intent and passion and, yes, what Marcus really wanted but was trying so hard to deny of himself. Esca on the step made them of a matching height for once.
Need, he needed Esca. He needed his kisses, he wanted his kisses. Until that moment he did not truly understand his own desires. This man was his and he was this man’s. Esca could do with him as he pleased. The world saw them as Master and servant’s son, then as officer and batman, now they were Lord and decorated soldier. To Marcus he was just Esca and had always been thus.
Esca licked and pushed with his tongue and Marcus opened for him. Allowing him to take and plunder. The feel of Esca’s quick and nimble tongue in his mouth was better than any kiss he had had before. The controlled strength in Esca’s fingers were carding through his hair causing him to moan in delight at the sensations. This was no gentle lady or tavern wench with a saucy smile. This was prickly Esca with his pride and loyalty.
His stubble rubbed roughly over Marcus’ cheeks that had only been shaved that morning. He could smell the lotion that was uniquely now Esca. His hands moved to grip Esca on those tight, pert buttocks that he had tried so hard not to stare at on that hot summer’s day at the pond. Pale and tight and so round and so perfect for his hands. He squeezed hard enjoying the feel of them.
The groan from Esca made Marcus smile. Esca might have had the upper hand so far in this encounter but he was not as in control as he would like and that pleased Marcus. His smile must have revealed itself in the kiss as Esca used all his weight and pushed Marcus backwards. As he took the step back he could feel Esca let go of him and slide his body down his front.
He opened his eyes slowly to see what Esca was up to. He heard the door shut behind him. He turned to see that Esca had reached over and slammed it shut, closing them both off from the outside world even more than just being in the Temple was. Esca moved slowly across the front of his body, sliding tightly which was nothing but a tease. A sly smile was on his face and Marcus just stood and waited to see what Esca would do next. The pressure on his cock had him breathing in deep and holding his breath. Then he looked at Esca in surprise as he noted he had reached for the key in the lock and had twisted it so as to lock the door.
Esca pulled the key out and his sly smile got broader as he lifted the key up to show Marcus and then he turned and started walking up the stairs quickly. Marcus could only stare at the arse that he has so recently held in his hand flex and move enticingly as Esca moved up the stairs. The small window at the top of the stairs illuminated the outline of Esca’s body and the light caressed over his arse just like Marcus wanted to with his hands and then Esca was gone.
Marcus stood at the bottom of the stairs in the dark, looking down he could see Esca’s coat and waistcoat. He raised his eyes to look back up towards the light. Up those stairs was a change to his life. Esca had taken away his choice with the locking of the door but Marcus knew that his choice was gone the moment he set eyes on Esca again. With slow measured steps he walked up the stairs, wondering where Esca would be waiting for him in the room. It was a small bedchamber by most grand houses sizes but for the Temple and the purpose it was built it was more than adequate. Inside the Manor house it was almost impossible to escape the watching eye of a servant, out here in the Temple it was a realm of privacy unlike Marcus had even known. He knew the fascination for the building of these garden houses and the reason for these rooms and he was glad of his ancestors’ foresight.
A large window on the western side of the room would provide light into the room, Marcus had noted as he walked up to the Temple that the outer louvers had been shut. His father had had the new sash windows installed when he updated the windows on the house. There would be a little light coming into the room from them but a degree of privacy from any viewers outside. Would Esca be standing by the window? Would he be by the bed? In his recent ambles around the gardens as he stretched and strengthened his leg, Marcus had noted that the Temple was regularly seen to by the staff. The linens should be fresh on the bed and he thought that he had seen Stephan badgering the new gardener for some cut flowers and pointing at the Temple just yesterday.
Marcus knew he was bad for still insisting on calling the man ‘new’ when he had been in-situ for many a years since Esca’s father passed on. Esca hated to be considered a charity case but the Aquila’s looked after their own and that included their servants. His father’s death was as much a tragedy as Marcus’ own father’s death and a stipend had been made to Mistress Cunoval to ensure she and her sons were well looked after.
All these thoughts were roaming Marcus’ mind as he walked up the stairs. As he reached the top he steeled himself to consider what sight may greet him. He was not prepared to see Esca’s naked chest, but that was what awaited him. Esca was standing at the foot of the bed and now only clothed on his lower half. Marcus had caught him just as he was pulling his shirt over his head. His chest was pale but well muscled and there was the tattoo on his right bicep. A marking from his long ago ancestors. His father had told him stories as a child and he had been influenced and daring enough to seek out the old sailor in Wasing to have the design inked into his own skin.
“You took your time, Marcus. I wondered if you would ever make your way up the stairs,” Esca said as he sat back on the bed and then proceeded to work his boots off his feet.
Marcus could only stare at Esca slowly and methodically stripping himself of his clothes and footwear.
“Would you have made me come and get you, Marcus?” Esca said as he dropped his first boot onto the ground.
Marcus snapped his head up to look at Esca when the sound of the boot hitting the rug on the floor snapped him out of his reverie.
“I had no other option but to climb the stairs. You have the key,” Marcus pointed out.
“True, sometimes, with you I have to take matters into my own hands,” Esca calmly stated as if they were conversing pleasantly in the drawing room while partaking of a cup of tea, instead of Esca teasing Marcus with his near nakedness.
“This is taking matters into your own hands?” Marcus asked as he waved towards Esca’s body.
Esca laughed and it had been a long time since Marcus had heard that sound.
“No,” Esca said slowly as he stood and undid the buttons to the flap of his pants and then he pushed the front of them open, allowing his cock to spring free, hard and inviting to Marcus.
Esca slid his hands inside his pants and worked them down his legs while Marcus could only stare at his cock. It was thin and bobbing slightly with each push and movement Esca made.
Marcus swallowed, his throat so dry and he wondered what Esca would do if he stepped forward and just touched it, touched that cock. He was larger than Esca, but in all matters he was larger than him. Not once in their acquaintance had Marcus thought of himself as being superior to Esca due to his size. If he had, then Esca would have ensured that the thought did not remain in his mind for long. Esca was no man’s inferior.
Esca kicked his pants off to the side and stood in front of Marcus completely naked.
Marcus licked his bottom lip, unsure of what he should do next. He wanted to touch but didn’t know where to start. At that cock or maybe the tattoo? There was Esca’s hair, shiny and thick and begging to have his hands run through it and to pull and tug. Or there were his lips. His shiny pink thin lips with the little cupids bow shape that teased Marcus with the smirk that seemed to become second nature to them.
Esca took the decision from him, he walked forward to stand directly in front of Marcus. The only space between them was the gap that Esca’s erection took up. As Marcus glanced down, Esca reached for his arm.
“No,” Esca repeated at a whisper, “this is taking matters into your hands.”
Marcus groaned as Esca pulled his arm forward so that his hand was resting alongside Esca’s cock and the temptation was too great. Marcus wrapped his hand around Esca’s cock, enveloping it easily in his grip.
“Esca!” he cried at the feel of him in the palm of his hand.
“Yes,” Esca hissed before he wrapped his arm around Marcus and pulled him in close, their bodies now rubbing and a hand each trapped between them.
Marcus leaned down to press a torrid kiss to Esca’s mouth. Esca was eager and as Marcus squeezed and pulled on his cock and wrapped his other hand around to grip his bare arse in his hand, and, for the first time, Esca rubbed back, seemingly trying to get as physically close to Marcus as possible.
“Too many clothes,” Esca managed to groan out and Marcus took the hint. It was only fair that if Esca was naked, gloriously naked, then Marcus should join him. Marcus let go of Esca’s cock with reluctance so that he could pull and tug and try and remove his coat from his own shoulders.
Esca raised his own hands to help and between the pair of them, never once breaking the kiss, they managed to eventually work his coat off. Esca would tease by moving his body away and then back to rub and cause Marcus’ cock to grow impossibly tighter every time. His cravat was next to go, the careful folds and precise knots gone in a matter of moments as Esca’s nimble fingers made light work of it. Marcus fumbled as he worked at the little cloth buttons of his waistcoat, his hands shaking as his knuckles would come in contact with the heat and smoothness of Esca’s chest.
Cravat and waistcoat gone, Esca and he battled as they each fought to undo the buttons on his shirt. Once they were all open Esca pulled away, breathing heavily.
“Do you have any idea how you look?” Esca asked as he stared at Marcus.
“Debauched?” Marcus guessed.
It surprised another bark of laughter from Esca. “Not yet, but I will have my way with you.”
“Oh really?” Marcus countered. “What if I want to have my way with you?”
“We shall see,” Esca promised as he raised a hand up to touch Marcus’ bare skin through the opening in his shirt.
“Insolent, you always have been thus with me,” Marcus complained, but his insolence in touching Marcus was one that he welcomed greatly.
“Too many clothes still, Marcus,” Esca ignored the statement from Marcus as he pushed the opening wider so that he could run his hand over Marcus’ nipple. Esca’s other hand was occupied with slowly stroking himself up and down.
Marcus took the hint and quickly undid the buttons at his cuffs, and, as soon as he had done so, Esca’s quick and nimble hands were off his skin and tugging his shirt out and helping pull it over Marcus’ head.
“So broad, and strong,” Esca murmured as his eyes greedily looked over Marcus’ bared skin. “Always wanted to taste.”
Esca suited his actions to his words as he leaned forward to press a kiss to Marcus’ chest. The touch of those lips had Marcus hissing and attacking the opening of his pants, eager to get out of them and get as naked as Esca.
Marcus complained as Esca batted his hands away.
“Esca!” he ordered in his best commanding voice and like always, Esca ignored it.
“No, boots first!” Esca had a better suggestion.
At least one of us is keeping our wits about us, Marcus thought. His cock was driving his thinking as it wanted to be free and to touch Esca’s skin.
Esca spun him around and pushed him back towards the bed. He sank heavily onto the feather mattress as Esca knelt at his feet and started to pull on his boot. Marcus braced himself and pulled in the opposite direction to help Esca get the boot off, and then Esca was running a gentle hand over his thigh, right over his scar that was hidden by the material.
Marcus hissed and Esca raised worried eyes up to him.
“Does it pain you still?” he asked quietly.
“When I overtax myself too much,” Marcus admitted.
“Does it hurt now?” Esca asked again as he ran his finger tips over the area.
“No, but it does not look pretty,” Marcus told him. Esca knew of the wound, and knew of the original scar so that the new version of it should not have repulsed him, but Marcus still worried. He was no longer the perfect specimen of manhood. He was flawed, irrevocably.
“You are beautiful to me,” Esca whispered as he leaned forward and pressed a kiss into his pants right above his scar.
Marcus closed his eyes as he felt that kiss to the very marrow of his bones. “Esca,” he cried brokenly.
“Hush,” Esca ordered as he gently started to work on his remaining boot. Working together it took a moment for them both to get it off. Esca was considerably better at removing it than Stephan was. Marcus resolutely shooed the image of Stephan kneeling at his feet form his mind. Esca was enough to tempt any man.
Esca slowly slid one hand up the outside of his legs, raising himself up higher on his knees until his hands were gripping the top of Marcus’ pants.
“Now these may come off,” Esca stated before he pressed a kiss to Marcus’ stomach, making his muscles flinch at the touch.
Marcus raised his hips to assist in the removal of the pants while Esca pressed kisses and licks to the skin of his stomach. Between the two of them they managed to get his pants off amongst groans and touches.
“Thick, wonderful, Marcus,” Esca growled as he stared at Marcus’ cock.
Marcus cried out in shock as Esca licked at the head of his cock. No one had touched it in that way before.
Esca then lowered down so that he could press a kiss to his scar. His ugly puckered skin.
“I thank God for this,” Esca said as he looked up at Marcus, his blue eyes intent.
Marcus’ confusion must have been written on his face as Esca explained his reasoning.
“If you were not injured I may have truly lost you for good.” Esca placed a finger over Marcus’ lips, silencing him when he would have replied. “A fine soldier you were, and now you are at sixes and sevens, but I would rather you here with this scar than dead on the fields by the town of Waterloo.”
Marcus kissed the finger on his lips and whispered his own thanks. “And I, that you are here. But I would prefer you closer as I remember there was something about having me? You have me naked, what is next?”
Esca growled that little growl of his that drove Marcus mad and he was swiftly moving up to push Marcus back on to the bed.
Skin to skin they were lying, cocks rubbing and rutting as they kissed with tongues and little nips.
Marcus got his hands in Esca’s thick hair, he pulled and tugged and then gentled his touch to knead at Esca’s skull.
Esca groaned and swore and ordered Marcus to, ”Yes! There! No! Harder! Gentler,” while Marcus pushed and tried to obey the contradictions.
“Make up your mind Esca or I shall do it for you,” he countered.
Esca pulled away to glare at Marcus, his hands gripping tight on Marcus’ upper arms in order to support himself.
“Do your worst,” Esca dared.
Marcus smiled as he pushed at Esca’s chest. There was another glare and then Esca stood up with reluctance. Marcus pushed himself back on the bed until he was almost in the middle of the bed, then he crooked a finger at Esca.
Esca’s jaw set in one of his mulish moods at being so summarily ordered and then his lust obviously won over his stubbornness as he obeyed Marcus’ summons.
“Stay on your hands and knees,” Marcus ordered as he rolled over to allow Esca to position himself in the middle of the bed.
Marcus got up to his knees and positioned himself behind Esca. He ran a hand down his spine, noting the shudder his touch evoked. His hands took their time exploring the perfect roundness of Esca’s arse.
“Please tell me that no other man has touched you?” Marcus asked.
“What would you do if I said they had?” Esca responded as he turned his head to look at Marcus, but did not move from his position.
“I would be saddened,” Marcus said as he ran his hands down Esca’s thighs pushing them inwards a little so that there was only a small gap between them.
“I dislike it when you are sad, so I shall only tell you that the only touch that has ever mattered to me is yours,” Esca replied.
“This is dangerous for us both,” Marcus said as he positioned himself with his knees on either side of Esca’s. He rubbed his cock up and back in the little cleft of Esca’s arse. It was torture but the friction between his smooth skin and Esca’s was a delicious one.
“It will only be dangerous if you don’t fuck me!” Esca glared at him.
“So fierce, my little Esca! If we are to love in the way of the Greeks then let us do so,” Marcus said as raised his hand up so he could spit into his palm. He spat again and coated his cock as best he could before he pushed his hips back so that he could slide his erection down Esca’s arse and rub over his balls before he pushed forward between Esca’s thighs and slid his cock alongside Esca’s.
“Yes!” Esca cried and he squeezed his arse and his thighs together to grip Marcus tightly.
“God! That feels so good,” Marcus cried out himself as he started to move his hips back and forth.
Esca pushed his arse up higher so that Marcus did not have to lean so far down. Marcus dropped his head so that he could lick and bite at what skin of Esca’s back that he could.
He could feel the head of his cock rub on the underside of the base of Esca’s. His balls were pushed up from Marcus’ cock, soft skin a pleasure to feel. His thighs were gripping tight and the fine hairs creating a rough rasp as he slid back and forth. The sound of his balls slapping against the back of Esca’s thighs and their moans was music to his ears. Every noise Esca made told Marcus how much he was enjoying them being together.
He mouthed Esca’s name on a raw groan when Esca shifted and brought his hand up to loosely grip at the base of his own cock. Marcus cursed God at the feel of Esca’s palm on the head of his cock as he pushed forward each time, Esca had grabbed his own cock but left a space to accommodate Marcus as well. Esca would grip and try to hold onto it with each thrust. It was a tight and wet heat as Marcus realised that Esca had spat into his palm to give them a little more lubricant.
Marcus tried to control his breathing and hold back his orgasm. It felt unlike anything he had experienced before. His arms shook as they held him up off Esca. Esca’s body was slightly twisted away from him while Esca balanced his own weight on one arm as the other provided sweet torture to them both. Sweat beaded on their bodies and then Marcus stilled as he cried out.
Esca tightened his thighs and gripped harder still. The orgasm had been building but then it exploded unexpectedly forcing him to ejaculate when he had been trying to hold it off for a while longer so that he could bring Esca along with him, but it was not to be. His fist held on fast to the head of Marcus’ cock as it expelled his seed. It was almost painful and Marcus could only close his eyes and feel. Marcus shuddered and his thigh started to collapse. With regret he pulled back and rolled back on the mattress to rest his weary legs, especially his injured one that he had been paying no mind. He flopped back onto the soft pillows and opened his eyes tiredly to apologise to Esca.
“Oh God!” Marcus exclaimed as he looked at Esca.
His debauched Esca was sitting back on his haunches and using his semen as a lubricant for his own cock. Esca’s hand was working fast up and down his shaft as Esca stared at Marcus. Marcus could not look away, he was tired and sated, but this was a sight that he was sure was going to be ingrained in his memory for all time. The fine definition of Esca’s chest with its scars from battles lost and won, was pushed forward while one hand supported him. Esca was biting his bottom lip and those blue eyes were staring back at Marcus.
Marcus’ mind was lethargic and only wanted to help Esca in some way. One hand wearily lifted and reached for Esca, who shook his head and sped up his movements before crying out. Esca’s seed dropped onto Marcus’ chest and the bedspread as well as over Esca’s own hand, still coated in Marcus’ semen.
How long they stared at each other, breathing deeply, Marcus did not know.
“Esca--,” Marcus said, unsure of exactly what he wanted to say.
Esca shook his head as he reached down and wiped their seed off his hand onto the bedspread. Then Esca started pulling at the coverlet, pulling it out from underneath the pillows. Marcus realised that Esca planned to sleep in the bed and his own tired body and mind agreed with this idea.
“Get under,” Esca said quietly and Marcus shifted over and slipped under the covers. Esca slid in with him and moved the pillows around until they were situated to his satisfaction. Marcus watched in silence as Esca seemed to know exactly how Marcus wanted to sleep with him. Esca then tucked himself in close to Marcus and slid a possessive hand across his body and rested his head on Marcus’ shoulder.
Marcus looked down at that head of burnished gold hair. He wiggled his own arm so that he could hold onto Esca and he felt Esca press a soft kiss to his skin as he settled back down.
All they had done here come back to him. It was illegal and immoral, even if it had seemed inevitable. They were both decorated soldiers from the campaign and yet if anyone were to know they would be disgraced and even possibly hung. There was no way the servants would not be able to guess what happened in this room when they left. His honour was gone and even worse was that his actions had resulted in the loss of honour for Esca too. Marcus whispered his apology for the loss even as he pressed a kiss to the top of Esca’s head.
“You idiot,” Esca said sleepily.
“What?” Marcus asked, his surprise evident in his voice.
“You are the most honourable man I have ever known and I was the one who pushed and took. Know this, that even if the laws here state that what we did was wrong, I know it was right. I can love no other and will never love any other. If they want to hang me for it, so be it, but I shall go to my grave knowing you. It would have been a greater tragedy if we had not come together.”
Marcus was stunned into silence by Esca’s declaration. Esca was right, it had felt so right and Marcus knew that if Esca was ever within his reach he would always seek to reach for him and hold on. Esca was his rock.
“The servants will know,” Marcus spoke his secret fear aloud.
“You leave that to me. Now hush and rest. I have plans for you later and our life to plan,” Esca bit his chest lightly at the end of his order.
“Ow,” Marcus complained as he pushed at Esca. “Our life?”
“Yes, that letter you decided not to read, that I brought over, is inviting you to dinner on Saturday with His Grace. It will also be my last day as part of his staff as I have been discharged.”
“What? Why? No! Esca, why did they discharge you? I shall speak to the Duke, this is unfair!”
Esca‘s laughter stopped Marcus in his tracks. Esca tipped his head up to smile at Marcus, a wide, generous smile.
“It was at my request. I knew he was traveling to Silchester, and, as much as an army life is a worthwhile one, I only knew it wasn’t home. Here, you, these gardens, and this land. This is my home and I have done my wandering.”
There was a little bit of hesitation in Esca’s look, as if he was unsure of Marcus accepting him back into his life.
Marcus looked at him to impart how serious he was with his next words.
“Yes, home. We shall talk more when we wake, for you have tired me out.”
“Later, when we wake I do not plan to talk,” Esca contradicted, which was so like him. His words were accompanied by a hand wandering down Marcus’ stomach towards his groin.
Marcus grabbed the hand and growled at Esca, “Sleep, you.”
Marcus saw the smile before he felt it as Esca settled his head back down. Marcus closed his eyes and just enjoyed the feel of Esca in bed with him. Troubles and society’s expectations could wait, this was time for just the two of them.
Beta: Many thanks to savvierthanu and 7ofEleven for being the enablers to pull me into this fandom in the first place and giving this a bit of spit and polish!
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 7,333
Pairings/Characters: Esca/Marcus
Warnings: AU, clothes!porn
Disclaimer: Not mine, dammit!
Summary: Marcus Aquila, Lord of Calleva Manor, receives an intriguing invitation from an old army friend.
(Response to ninja_orange's kink meme request, Period/Regency AU, otherwise same prompt - Marcus is lord of the manor, Esca is the gardener's son, here)
A/N: Last week I was badgered by savvierthanu and 7ofEleven to come and join in the fun that is the Eagle fandom. So I did and it has been vastly amusing and I have made some new friends *waves*.
I wrote my first fill for the_eagle_kink meme and got some lovely responses and was told to post it up on my journal as well to de-anon. I can’t resist peer pressure it seems! One of the commentators also dubbed this the “Regency Stripper Porn”, which I think fits it well!
Enjoy.
“Thank you, Stephan,” Marcus, Lord of Calleva Manor said as he waved a hand in the air to dismiss his Uncle’s man.
He turned the letter carefully over in his hands, feeling the quality of the paper under his rough fingertips. He couldn’t remember a time when he had the hands of a gentleman. He might have been born into the gentry but always he had been a ‘rough and tumble lad’ as his mother was wont to remind him.
Marcus looked up and Stephan was still standing there. “Go! You have done your job and I thank you for it,” Marcus ordered.
Stephan opened his mouth to speak again but at a glare from Marcus he turned on his heel and left the temple, hopefully to return to the house and leave Marcus in the peace that he desired.
It was why he had escaped out to the gardens. Away from servants prying eyes, away from the noise and bustle of the house and questions from guests, who just happened to be passing by and thought to drop in, about the War.
Thoughts of the Campaign, that last final battle where they had defeated that damned Corsican once and for all at the expense of many a good man’s life on both sides, filled Marcus as he ran his finger over the seal on the letter.
The smoke, the rain, and finally the mud, crops and blood intermingling was the stuff of his nightmares, and the sight of the Duke’s seal was enough to bring it all back. The charge and decimation of the Imperial Guard, the first time they had been beaten and Marcus was one of those instrumental in the defeat. His wound from the Peninsula campaign had opened up again during that charge. His blood loss wasn’t going to stop him once he sighted the Eagle though. Napoleon wanted to be a re-born Roman Emperor, well Marcus was determined to take his honour with the capture of the Eagle. Capture it he did and a bloody hand to hand fight it took, gentleman’s rules out the window when the battle lust was upon them all. He retreated only to have his horse felled and his return to the line halted. He would have died out there like so many of his men if it hadn’t of been for the actions of one other. Confusing actions that Marcus decided he really did not need to be thinking about.
As he went to break the seal, and break his reverie of his thoughts of that fateful, terrible day, he looked up. A shadow had extended into his line of vision and what he saw had him holding his breath.
Esca, bane of his existence.
The former gardener’s son, friend of his youth who followed him to battle and came out with many an honour himself. The man who had saved his life and brought nothing but confusion since. He was standing in the doorway, blocking out the light from outside and the view of the land that his father had so proudly and carefully cultivated for the Aquila family. No homespuns for Esca, now it was fine clothes he could see. Those long lean legs in tight buckskins, his shoulders that were so broad for one on the smaller stature set off perfectly in a tight morning coat, a hint of a high cravat at his neck and his hair, so thick and artfully disheveled with the light from the sun outside bathing it in a golden hue.
Marcus set his jaw and waited for Esca to explain himself. After a period Marcus knew that this was going to be just like their youth, both too stubborn to concede.
“I take it I have you to thank for this?” Marcus said as he waved the letter in the air. Last he had heard, Esca had been appointed to the staff of the Duke, while he was sent back to England to recuperate and sell out with all honours. He had wanted nothing more than to be a soldier like his father all his life and now it was over, a dream gone and he was back having to be a Lord of a Manor. Lessons he had hated as a youth he was having to dredge up and here was his reminder in the flesh that he could never fight with honour for his country again, but Esca had and did.
“I am just the messenger, the faithful hound that brings whatever his master requires,” Esca replied, his chin rising in the air in that stubborn, prideful manner of his.
“More a wolf than hound,” Marcus muttered. Esca might have looked slight to most others, a small man who many would glance over and never think twice about but Marcus knew better. There were strong muscles under those clothes and a quick and nimble fighter. Pride was Esca’s downfall and one that Marcus knew well as he had it himself in spades. Esca’s last real discussion with him came back to his mind and had Marcus slapping the letter down on the bench.
Wellington’s letter forgotten as Marcus stood and stalked across the room to Esca.
“I thought you once claimed that no man would ever be your master?” Marcus spat out. “You and your willfulness.”
“Hah!” Esca stood tall as he glared at Marcus in return. “I am not the one who thought it was a bright idea to hide his injuries from others. I heard what you told the other officers about me, it’s why I was recommended to the Duke. None better to give the word of honour than the man who captured the Imperial Guard’s Eagle. You are more discomposed that I didn’t come running back to you?”
“Why would you come running back? I am just the man that you kissed in the middle of a battlefield. Or do you kiss many men?” Marcus leaned forward to hiss his question in Esca’s face. He had to bend down to do it, such was Esca’s short stature. Marcus mentally shook himself for asking after the kiss. He had spent too long on that conundrum of why Esca had done it.
Esca had refused the Eagle when Marcus tried to hand it over. The smoke from the cannon’s had enveloped the pair of them on the field so it felt like they were the only two men left. Marcus felt the dissipating warmth from his horse as he lay dead behind him. There was the stench that he was coming to know only too well all around and then there was Esca, refusing to take the Eagle and telling him he would be back. That thin mouth, set in it’s mulish line, the broken slightly crooked nose and the blue eyes, so intense. A look that Marcus wasn’t sure to make of passed over Esca’s face and then he lifted a hand and rested it on Marcus’ cheek. Shock and warmth were the two feelings that Marcus was able to concentrate on before shock became the main one. Esca had leaned forward quickly and pressed a kiss to his lips. For that moment Marcus felt the rough, dry lips and then as he pulled away, he left sweetness and a desire that Marcus had been aware of blossoming fully.
Esca had disappeared into the smoke and Marcus had memorised that view as being possibly his last good memory while on this earth. It was not to be as Esca had reappeared out of the smoke with a wry smile on his face and reinforcements. How a lowly soldier had managed it many would wonder, but Marcus knew Esca. He was just in time as the French had re-grouped and were charging upon them again. With Esca at his side he fought his retreat back to the line and the safety of the hill, the Eagle still in his possession. At it’s sight there was a great cheer and he glanced to Esca to smile at him and received one of his rare smiles in return before his world went black and he woke up days later in a farmhouse and mercifully his leg still attached. Esca was nowhere in sight.
“What are you more upset about?” Esca asked. “That I might have kissed others or that I didn’t come running back to you?”
“You shouldn’t kiss anyone,” Marcus said as he turned on his heel and marched back across the room to the bench.
“Anyone or only you?” Esca called across the room at his back.
“Hush! Do you want us both to hang?” Marcus tried to silence Esca. This was not a conversation they should be having and he ignored his own conscience that he was the one to start it.
“I would rather hang for more than a kiss,” Esca declared.
Marcus spun around in shock to find Esca stalking purposefully across the room towards him. “I would be a poor friend of yours if I neglected my duty and no, I have not kissed others. Why would I when all I dream of is you?”
Marcus blinked at him in confusion. What was Esca telling him here? He opened his mouth to question Esca again, when Esca stopped him by grabbing hold of his waistcoat and pulling him forwards.
“You wear too many clothes,” Esca whispered before he was pulling him closer still and rising up.
Marcus leaned down, drawn by some invisible force so that he and Esca could join their lips together again. He watched as Esca lowered his lids over his eyes, taking that blue from Marcus’ sight. It was enough for his memory though as this time the kiss was not a short hard press of dry lips. Esca pushed and teased to encourage Marcus to open for him and he did. He slipped his hands around Esca’s body to hold on and ensure that this time Esca was not going to leave him.
“Never,” Esca whispered around kisses as he slowly pulled his lips away. Marcus glanced down to see that Esca had been busy working his buttons loose on his waistcoat.
Marcus blinked in confusion and then gasped as Esca slid his hand down over his breeches and cupped him strongly.
“Too many clothes,” Esca murmured. “Do you know how hard it was for me to stay in France, waiting for news that you were alright? The first I heard we were already in Paris and word came that you had survived and made it home. I was so relieved but then there was so much to sort out.”
Esca made Marcus groan as he squeezed tight on his cock.
“I’m not sorry that I kissed you. I have wanted to for a long time. That day at the pond, remember, and seeing your strong body naked, I wanted and dreamed. Now I will not wait. If I am to hang for this then let me have the great pleasure of having you naked.”
“Esca -” Marcus tried to protest, but the hand rubbing on his cock was driving him mindless. “If you have me.”
“When,” Esca declared as he leaned up to lick at his neck. “When I have you.”
“Oh God,” Marcus groaned as the image of Esca pushing him naked onto a bed came to his mind.
“Upstairs,” Esca ordered.
“What?”
“Upstairs. If I know Stephan and the others, the rooms upstairs will be in perfect condition. You gentry and your little love-nests out here in the gardens. My father used to tell me all about them and now I can put one to use. I want you upstairs. I have waited far too long but I have done my duty and now I am here. I will have you.”
Marcus blinked as he felt the flush on his skin at Esca’s words.
“You have too many clothes too,” he admitted as he lowered his head, sure that there would be a blush staining his cheeks. This was too wrong in the eyes of God and the eyes of the law, but no one had ever made him feel as Esca had. Marcus wondered if he dared to take what he desired so badly and had since the middle of all that death.
He raised his eyes to find Esca staring at him. An inscrutable look that Marcus did not know how to interpret. Esca then let go and stepped back. Marcus allowed his hands to slide off Esca’s body, memorising the feel of the superfine of the coat under his fingertips. He wanted nothing more than to hold on, but his honour demanded that he allow Esca to move away. His body and mostly his cock twitched at the loss of contact with Esca. Confusingly for Marcus, Esca walked over to the door that lead upstairs to the small room on the western side, facing the park.
Esca paused at the doorway and considered Marcus. Then he did something very unexpected. Esca slowly started to remove his coat. No man would dare to remove his coat in company, it was beyond the pale.
“Esca! What are you doing?” Marcus protested as he strode forwards to stop him.
“What does it look like I am doing?” Esca responded as he dangled his coat in his fingertips in front of Marcus, before tossing it to land on the steps behind him.
The full sleeves of his shirt were now on view. No longer encased in the tight blue sleeves. Inside those sleeves, Marcus knew that the arms were wiry strong and muscled. On his right arm there was the tattoo that had fascinated Marcus since he had seen it. Marcus licked his lips as he considered that if Esca had removed his jacket, he would be just as likely to remove his shirt as well?
“Marcus,” Esca ordered, “look!”
“Huh,” Marcus responded as he tore his eyes away from staring at the white linen. Esca had a slight smirk upon his face and with a blink indicated that Marcus should be looking down. He did and it was to see Esca’s nimble fingers slowly unbuttoning the cream waistcoat.
Marcus felt warm and brought his hand up to pull his shirt points away from his neck. Esca was slowly stripping his clothing off in front of him.
“Esca,” he groaned.
Esca just smirked more broadly in return as he shrugged the waistcoat off his shoulders. Marcus watched in fascination as it slowly made it’s way down his arms. Esca’s chest was pushed forward as he dropped the waistcoat down on the steps behind him, just like he had with the coat. Both garments lay sprawled on the stonework like drunken soldiers after a hard fought battle. All loose and spreadeagled, of no use to any officer or to themselves.
“Come Marcus,” Esca invited as he stepped back onto the first step.
Marcus hesitated for a moment until Esca trailed his fingers up his body and then started to pull at the cravat around his neck. At the first flash of skin revealed, Marcus took a step forward, drawn to that hint of pale skin like a drunkard to a skinful of ale. Esca pulled the long strip of linen from around his neck. The noise it made as it slid against his shirt sent a shiver reverberating down Marcus’ spine. Esca’s heavy lidded eyes peeked at him as he stood there, cravat in one hand trailing down to pool at his feet in stark contrast to the black sheen of his riding boots. His other hand was playing with the top button on his shirt. Marcus bit his lip to stop himself from surging forward.
“So proper, Marcus. Always doing the right and correct thing. The Right Honourable Marcus Aquila.” Esca was trailing a finger back and forth across the exposed part of his neck. “Do you want, Marcus? Do you need?”
Esca took a step back and up the first step, a promise in his eyes that had Marcus growling and breaking free from his position. Esca stood his ground and raised his chin in that prideful manner of his. Marcus prowled towards him, intent on getting to Esca and stopping him in this wilful tease. As he reached to grab hold of the shirt of Esca he realised his mistake. Now he was in Esca’s hands, where Esca wanted him. And Esca did just that, sliding a hand around his neck and holding him in place so that he could lean forward and kiss him again. A hard kiss, a kiss of intent and passion and, yes, what Marcus really wanted but was trying so hard to deny of himself. Esca on the step made them of a matching height for once.
Need, he needed Esca. He needed his kisses, he wanted his kisses. Until that moment he did not truly understand his own desires. This man was his and he was this man’s. Esca could do with him as he pleased. The world saw them as Master and servant’s son, then as officer and batman, now they were Lord and decorated soldier. To Marcus he was just Esca and had always been thus.
Esca licked and pushed with his tongue and Marcus opened for him. Allowing him to take and plunder. The feel of Esca’s quick and nimble tongue in his mouth was better than any kiss he had had before. The controlled strength in Esca’s fingers were carding through his hair causing him to moan in delight at the sensations. This was no gentle lady or tavern wench with a saucy smile. This was prickly Esca with his pride and loyalty.
His stubble rubbed roughly over Marcus’ cheeks that had only been shaved that morning. He could smell the lotion that was uniquely now Esca. His hands moved to grip Esca on those tight, pert buttocks that he had tried so hard not to stare at on that hot summer’s day at the pond. Pale and tight and so round and so perfect for his hands. He squeezed hard enjoying the feel of them.
The groan from Esca made Marcus smile. Esca might have had the upper hand so far in this encounter but he was not as in control as he would like and that pleased Marcus. His smile must have revealed itself in the kiss as Esca used all his weight and pushed Marcus backwards. As he took the step back he could feel Esca let go of him and slide his body down his front.
He opened his eyes slowly to see what Esca was up to. He heard the door shut behind him. He turned to see that Esca had reached over and slammed it shut, closing them both off from the outside world even more than just being in the Temple was. Esca moved slowly across the front of his body, sliding tightly which was nothing but a tease. A sly smile was on his face and Marcus just stood and waited to see what Esca would do next. The pressure on his cock had him breathing in deep and holding his breath. Then he looked at Esca in surprise as he noted he had reached for the key in the lock and had twisted it so as to lock the door.
Esca pulled the key out and his sly smile got broader as he lifted the key up to show Marcus and then he turned and started walking up the stairs quickly. Marcus could only stare at the arse that he has so recently held in his hand flex and move enticingly as Esca moved up the stairs. The small window at the top of the stairs illuminated the outline of Esca’s body and the light caressed over his arse just like Marcus wanted to with his hands and then Esca was gone.
Marcus stood at the bottom of the stairs in the dark, looking down he could see Esca’s coat and waistcoat. He raised his eyes to look back up towards the light. Up those stairs was a change to his life. Esca had taken away his choice with the locking of the door but Marcus knew that his choice was gone the moment he set eyes on Esca again. With slow measured steps he walked up the stairs, wondering where Esca would be waiting for him in the room. It was a small bedchamber by most grand houses sizes but for the Temple and the purpose it was built it was more than adequate. Inside the Manor house it was almost impossible to escape the watching eye of a servant, out here in the Temple it was a realm of privacy unlike Marcus had even known. He knew the fascination for the building of these garden houses and the reason for these rooms and he was glad of his ancestors’ foresight.
A large window on the western side of the room would provide light into the room, Marcus had noted as he walked up to the Temple that the outer louvers had been shut. His father had had the new sash windows installed when he updated the windows on the house. There would be a little light coming into the room from them but a degree of privacy from any viewers outside. Would Esca be standing by the window? Would he be by the bed? In his recent ambles around the gardens as he stretched and strengthened his leg, Marcus had noted that the Temple was regularly seen to by the staff. The linens should be fresh on the bed and he thought that he had seen Stephan badgering the new gardener for some cut flowers and pointing at the Temple just yesterday.
Marcus knew he was bad for still insisting on calling the man ‘new’ when he had been in-situ for many a years since Esca’s father passed on. Esca hated to be considered a charity case but the Aquila’s looked after their own and that included their servants. His father’s death was as much a tragedy as Marcus’ own father’s death and a stipend had been made to Mistress Cunoval to ensure she and her sons were well looked after.
All these thoughts were roaming Marcus’ mind as he walked up the stairs. As he reached the top he steeled himself to consider what sight may greet him. He was not prepared to see Esca’s naked chest, but that was what awaited him. Esca was standing at the foot of the bed and now only clothed on his lower half. Marcus had caught him just as he was pulling his shirt over his head. His chest was pale but well muscled and there was the tattoo on his right bicep. A marking from his long ago ancestors. His father had told him stories as a child and he had been influenced and daring enough to seek out the old sailor in Wasing to have the design inked into his own skin.
“You took your time, Marcus. I wondered if you would ever make your way up the stairs,” Esca said as he sat back on the bed and then proceeded to work his boots off his feet.
Marcus could only stare at Esca slowly and methodically stripping himself of his clothes and footwear.
“Would you have made me come and get you, Marcus?” Esca said as he dropped his first boot onto the ground.
Marcus snapped his head up to look at Esca when the sound of the boot hitting the rug on the floor snapped him out of his reverie.
“I had no other option but to climb the stairs. You have the key,” Marcus pointed out.
“True, sometimes, with you I have to take matters into my own hands,” Esca calmly stated as if they were conversing pleasantly in the drawing room while partaking of a cup of tea, instead of Esca teasing Marcus with his near nakedness.
“This is taking matters into your own hands?” Marcus asked as he waved towards Esca’s body.
Esca laughed and it had been a long time since Marcus had heard that sound.
“No,” Esca said slowly as he stood and undid the buttons to the flap of his pants and then he pushed the front of them open, allowing his cock to spring free, hard and inviting to Marcus.
Esca slid his hands inside his pants and worked them down his legs while Marcus could only stare at his cock. It was thin and bobbing slightly with each push and movement Esca made.
Marcus swallowed, his throat so dry and he wondered what Esca would do if he stepped forward and just touched it, touched that cock. He was larger than Esca, but in all matters he was larger than him. Not once in their acquaintance had Marcus thought of himself as being superior to Esca due to his size. If he had, then Esca would have ensured that the thought did not remain in his mind for long. Esca was no man’s inferior.
Esca kicked his pants off to the side and stood in front of Marcus completely naked.
Marcus licked his bottom lip, unsure of what he should do next. He wanted to touch but didn’t know where to start. At that cock or maybe the tattoo? There was Esca’s hair, shiny and thick and begging to have his hands run through it and to pull and tug. Or there were his lips. His shiny pink thin lips with the little cupids bow shape that teased Marcus with the smirk that seemed to become second nature to them.
Esca took the decision from him, he walked forward to stand directly in front of Marcus. The only space between them was the gap that Esca’s erection took up. As Marcus glanced down, Esca reached for his arm.
“No,” Esca repeated at a whisper, “this is taking matters into your hands.”
Marcus groaned as Esca pulled his arm forward so that his hand was resting alongside Esca’s cock and the temptation was too great. Marcus wrapped his hand around Esca’s cock, enveloping it easily in his grip.
“Esca!” he cried at the feel of him in the palm of his hand.
“Yes,” Esca hissed before he wrapped his arm around Marcus and pulled him in close, their bodies now rubbing and a hand each trapped between them.
Marcus leaned down to press a torrid kiss to Esca’s mouth. Esca was eager and as Marcus squeezed and pulled on his cock and wrapped his other hand around to grip his bare arse in his hand, and, for the first time, Esca rubbed back, seemingly trying to get as physically close to Marcus as possible.
“Too many clothes,” Esca managed to groan out and Marcus took the hint. It was only fair that if Esca was naked, gloriously naked, then Marcus should join him. Marcus let go of Esca’s cock with reluctance so that he could pull and tug and try and remove his coat from his own shoulders.
Esca raised his own hands to help and between the pair of them, never once breaking the kiss, they managed to eventually work his coat off. Esca would tease by moving his body away and then back to rub and cause Marcus’ cock to grow impossibly tighter every time. His cravat was next to go, the careful folds and precise knots gone in a matter of moments as Esca’s nimble fingers made light work of it. Marcus fumbled as he worked at the little cloth buttons of his waistcoat, his hands shaking as his knuckles would come in contact with the heat and smoothness of Esca’s chest.
Cravat and waistcoat gone, Esca and he battled as they each fought to undo the buttons on his shirt. Once they were all open Esca pulled away, breathing heavily.
“Do you have any idea how you look?” Esca asked as he stared at Marcus.
“Debauched?” Marcus guessed.
It surprised another bark of laughter from Esca. “Not yet, but I will have my way with you.”
“Oh really?” Marcus countered. “What if I want to have my way with you?”
“We shall see,” Esca promised as he raised a hand up to touch Marcus’ bare skin through the opening in his shirt.
“Insolent, you always have been thus with me,” Marcus complained, but his insolence in touching Marcus was one that he welcomed greatly.
“Too many clothes still, Marcus,” Esca ignored the statement from Marcus as he pushed the opening wider so that he could run his hand over Marcus’ nipple. Esca’s other hand was occupied with slowly stroking himself up and down.
Marcus took the hint and quickly undid the buttons at his cuffs, and, as soon as he had done so, Esca’s quick and nimble hands were off his skin and tugging his shirt out and helping pull it over Marcus’ head.
“So broad, and strong,” Esca murmured as his eyes greedily looked over Marcus’ bared skin. “Always wanted to taste.”
Esca suited his actions to his words as he leaned forward to press a kiss to Marcus’ chest. The touch of those lips had Marcus hissing and attacking the opening of his pants, eager to get out of them and get as naked as Esca.
Marcus complained as Esca batted his hands away.
“Esca!” he ordered in his best commanding voice and like always, Esca ignored it.
“No, boots first!” Esca had a better suggestion.
At least one of us is keeping our wits about us, Marcus thought. His cock was driving his thinking as it wanted to be free and to touch Esca’s skin.
Esca spun him around and pushed him back towards the bed. He sank heavily onto the feather mattress as Esca knelt at his feet and started to pull on his boot. Marcus braced himself and pulled in the opposite direction to help Esca get the boot off, and then Esca was running a gentle hand over his thigh, right over his scar that was hidden by the material.
Marcus hissed and Esca raised worried eyes up to him.
“Does it pain you still?” he asked quietly.
“When I overtax myself too much,” Marcus admitted.
“Does it hurt now?” Esca asked again as he ran his finger tips over the area.
“No, but it does not look pretty,” Marcus told him. Esca knew of the wound, and knew of the original scar so that the new version of it should not have repulsed him, but Marcus still worried. He was no longer the perfect specimen of manhood. He was flawed, irrevocably.
“You are beautiful to me,” Esca whispered as he leaned forward and pressed a kiss into his pants right above his scar.
Marcus closed his eyes as he felt that kiss to the very marrow of his bones. “Esca,” he cried brokenly.
“Hush,” Esca ordered as he gently started to work on his remaining boot. Working together it took a moment for them both to get it off. Esca was considerably better at removing it than Stephan was. Marcus resolutely shooed the image of Stephan kneeling at his feet form his mind. Esca was enough to tempt any man.
Esca slowly slid one hand up the outside of his legs, raising himself up higher on his knees until his hands were gripping the top of Marcus’ pants.
“Now these may come off,” Esca stated before he pressed a kiss to Marcus’ stomach, making his muscles flinch at the touch.
Marcus raised his hips to assist in the removal of the pants while Esca pressed kisses and licks to the skin of his stomach. Between the two of them they managed to get his pants off amongst groans and touches.
“Thick, wonderful, Marcus,” Esca growled as he stared at Marcus’ cock.
Marcus cried out in shock as Esca licked at the head of his cock. No one had touched it in that way before.
Esca then lowered down so that he could press a kiss to his scar. His ugly puckered skin.
“I thank God for this,” Esca said as he looked up at Marcus, his blue eyes intent.
Marcus’ confusion must have been written on his face as Esca explained his reasoning.
“If you were not injured I may have truly lost you for good.” Esca placed a finger over Marcus’ lips, silencing him when he would have replied. “A fine soldier you were, and now you are at sixes and sevens, but I would rather you here with this scar than dead on the fields by the town of Waterloo.”
Marcus kissed the finger on his lips and whispered his own thanks. “And I, that you are here. But I would prefer you closer as I remember there was something about having me? You have me naked, what is next?”
Esca growled that little growl of his that drove Marcus mad and he was swiftly moving up to push Marcus back on to the bed.
Skin to skin they were lying, cocks rubbing and rutting as they kissed with tongues and little nips.
Marcus got his hands in Esca’s thick hair, he pulled and tugged and then gentled his touch to knead at Esca’s skull.
Esca groaned and swore and ordered Marcus to, ”Yes! There! No! Harder! Gentler,” while Marcus pushed and tried to obey the contradictions.
“Make up your mind Esca or I shall do it for you,” he countered.
Esca pulled away to glare at Marcus, his hands gripping tight on Marcus’ upper arms in order to support himself.
“Do your worst,” Esca dared.
Marcus smiled as he pushed at Esca’s chest. There was another glare and then Esca stood up with reluctance. Marcus pushed himself back on the bed until he was almost in the middle of the bed, then he crooked a finger at Esca.
Esca’s jaw set in one of his mulish moods at being so summarily ordered and then his lust obviously won over his stubbornness as he obeyed Marcus’ summons.
“Stay on your hands and knees,” Marcus ordered as he rolled over to allow Esca to position himself in the middle of the bed.
Marcus got up to his knees and positioned himself behind Esca. He ran a hand down his spine, noting the shudder his touch evoked. His hands took their time exploring the perfect roundness of Esca’s arse.
“Please tell me that no other man has touched you?” Marcus asked.
“What would you do if I said they had?” Esca responded as he turned his head to look at Marcus, but did not move from his position.
“I would be saddened,” Marcus said as he ran his hands down Esca’s thighs pushing them inwards a little so that there was only a small gap between them.
“I dislike it when you are sad, so I shall only tell you that the only touch that has ever mattered to me is yours,” Esca replied.
“This is dangerous for us both,” Marcus said as he positioned himself with his knees on either side of Esca’s. He rubbed his cock up and back in the little cleft of Esca’s arse. It was torture but the friction between his smooth skin and Esca’s was a delicious one.
“It will only be dangerous if you don’t fuck me!” Esca glared at him.
“So fierce, my little Esca! If we are to love in the way of the Greeks then let us do so,” Marcus said as raised his hand up so he could spit into his palm. He spat again and coated his cock as best he could before he pushed his hips back so that he could slide his erection down Esca’s arse and rub over his balls before he pushed forward between Esca’s thighs and slid his cock alongside Esca’s.
“Yes!” Esca cried and he squeezed his arse and his thighs together to grip Marcus tightly.
“God! That feels so good,” Marcus cried out himself as he started to move his hips back and forth.
Esca pushed his arse up higher so that Marcus did not have to lean so far down. Marcus dropped his head so that he could lick and bite at what skin of Esca’s back that he could.
He could feel the head of his cock rub on the underside of the base of Esca’s. His balls were pushed up from Marcus’ cock, soft skin a pleasure to feel. His thighs were gripping tight and the fine hairs creating a rough rasp as he slid back and forth. The sound of his balls slapping against the back of Esca’s thighs and their moans was music to his ears. Every noise Esca made told Marcus how much he was enjoying them being together.
He mouthed Esca’s name on a raw groan when Esca shifted and brought his hand up to loosely grip at the base of his own cock. Marcus cursed God at the feel of Esca’s palm on the head of his cock as he pushed forward each time, Esca had grabbed his own cock but left a space to accommodate Marcus as well. Esca would grip and try to hold onto it with each thrust. It was a tight and wet heat as Marcus realised that Esca had spat into his palm to give them a little more lubricant.
Marcus tried to control his breathing and hold back his orgasm. It felt unlike anything he had experienced before. His arms shook as they held him up off Esca. Esca’s body was slightly twisted away from him while Esca balanced his own weight on one arm as the other provided sweet torture to them both. Sweat beaded on their bodies and then Marcus stilled as he cried out.
Esca tightened his thighs and gripped harder still. The orgasm had been building but then it exploded unexpectedly forcing him to ejaculate when he had been trying to hold it off for a while longer so that he could bring Esca along with him, but it was not to be. His fist held on fast to the head of Marcus’ cock as it expelled his seed. It was almost painful and Marcus could only close his eyes and feel. Marcus shuddered and his thigh started to collapse. With regret he pulled back and rolled back on the mattress to rest his weary legs, especially his injured one that he had been paying no mind. He flopped back onto the soft pillows and opened his eyes tiredly to apologise to Esca.
“Oh God!” Marcus exclaimed as he looked at Esca.
His debauched Esca was sitting back on his haunches and using his semen as a lubricant for his own cock. Esca’s hand was working fast up and down his shaft as Esca stared at Marcus. Marcus could not look away, he was tired and sated, but this was a sight that he was sure was going to be ingrained in his memory for all time. The fine definition of Esca’s chest with its scars from battles lost and won, was pushed forward while one hand supported him. Esca was biting his bottom lip and those blue eyes were staring back at Marcus.
Marcus’ mind was lethargic and only wanted to help Esca in some way. One hand wearily lifted and reached for Esca, who shook his head and sped up his movements before crying out. Esca’s seed dropped onto Marcus’ chest and the bedspread as well as over Esca’s own hand, still coated in Marcus’ semen.
How long they stared at each other, breathing deeply, Marcus did not know.
“Esca--,” Marcus said, unsure of exactly what he wanted to say.
Esca shook his head as he reached down and wiped their seed off his hand onto the bedspread. Then Esca started pulling at the coverlet, pulling it out from underneath the pillows. Marcus realised that Esca planned to sleep in the bed and his own tired body and mind agreed with this idea.
“Get under,” Esca said quietly and Marcus shifted over and slipped under the covers. Esca slid in with him and moved the pillows around until they were situated to his satisfaction. Marcus watched in silence as Esca seemed to know exactly how Marcus wanted to sleep with him. Esca then tucked himself in close to Marcus and slid a possessive hand across his body and rested his head on Marcus’ shoulder.
Marcus looked down at that head of burnished gold hair. He wiggled his own arm so that he could hold onto Esca and he felt Esca press a soft kiss to his skin as he settled back down.
All they had done here come back to him. It was illegal and immoral, even if it had seemed inevitable. They were both decorated soldiers from the campaign and yet if anyone were to know they would be disgraced and even possibly hung. There was no way the servants would not be able to guess what happened in this room when they left. His honour was gone and even worse was that his actions had resulted in the loss of honour for Esca too. Marcus whispered his apology for the loss even as he pressed a kiss to the top of Esca’s head.
“You idiot,” Esca said sleepily.
“What?” Marcus asked, his surprise evident in his voice.
“You are the most honourable man I have ever known and I was the one who pushed and took. Know this, that even if the laws here state that what we did was wrong, I know it was right. I can love no other and will never love any other. If they want to hang me for it, so be it, but I shall go to my grave knowing you. It would have been a greater tragedy if we had not come together.”
Marcus was stunned into silence by Esca’s declaration. Esca was right, it had felt so right and Marcus knew that if Esca was ever within his reach he would always seek to reach for him and hold on. Esca was his rock.
“The servants will know,” Marcus spoke his secret fear aloud.
“You leave that to me. Now hush and rest. I have plans for you later and our life to plan,” Esca bit his chest lightly at the end of his order.
“Ow,” Marcus complained as he pushed at Esca. “Our life?”
“Yes, that letter you decided not to read, that I brought over, is inviting you to dinner on Saturday with His Grace. It will also be my last day as part of his staff as I have been discharged.”
“What? Why? No! Esca, why did they discharge you? I shall speak to the Duke, this is unfair!”
Esca‘s laughter stopped Marcus in his tracks. Esca tipped his head up to smile at Marcus, a wide, generous smile.
“It was at my request. I knew he was traveling to Silchester, and, as much as an army life is a worthwhile one, I only knew it wasn’t home. Here, you, these gardens, and this land. This is my home and I have done my wandering.”
There was a little bit of hesitation in Esca’s look, as if he was unsure of Marcus accepting him back into his life.
Marcus looked at him to impart how serious he was with his next words.
“Yes, home. We shall talk more when we wake, for you have tired me out.”
“Later, when we wake I do not plan to talk,” Esca contradicted, which was so like him. His words were accompanied by a hand wandering down Marcus’ stomach towards his groin.
Marcus grabbed the hand and growled at Esca, “Sleep, you.”
Marcus saw the smile before he felt it as Esca settled his head back down. Marcus closed his eyes and just enjoyed the feel of Esca in bed with him. Troubles and society’s expectations could wait, this was time for just the two of them.