Jesper doesn't remember his last words to anyone. His father, Inej, Wylan. Inej and Wylan disappeared in the night. He likes to think that he said he loved them, because that is the sort of thing Jesper did with his loved ones. He never takes it for granted that the words are understood so he says them regularly. The one thing he can hold onto is that people in his life do know how he feels about them, always. So if he goes, if they go, there is that hanging in the air, still alive.
He knew that Kelson was a king because they spoke briefly on the network, and he told Jesper about it a little. He seemed like a nice enough sort although he couldn't get a full read on him. He encouraged him to befriend Nikolai and Kell. Jesper was asking in case Kelson was one of those tragic cases where he was dead back home, but it sounds like he wasn't, so that's a relief at least. That would be far worse. Although a part of him thinks that it's for the best Wilhelm didn't have 800 years of memories of Kelson on top of that to lose. At least this is one sharp tug, a few months rather than centuries.
Jesper moves closer to Wilhelm on the couch and goes ahead and puts an arm around him since he's clearly starting to unravel. He can pull away if he wants to, but Jesper has a hard time not offering physical comfort from someone who needs it. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. Truly. Wherever he is now, he was lucky to have spent time with you, and I know he would say that."
Their relationship has evolved over the centuries, but its core is immutable. They care about each other deeply, as friends, as lovers, as two people whose lives have intertwined. Between them, sex is a comfortable space they can come back to, a shared adventure, a form of conversation.
Where Jesper leads, Wilhelm follows. Laughing like they're still the teenagers they were when they first met, he lets him pull him into the shade of the tree. As his clothes fall off, he shivers in anticipation, head lolling, secret smile curving his lips. He crashes into the kiss, tongue tracing Jesper's perfect pout.
"It makes me feel horny," he laughs. With Jesper naked and wrapped around him, it's impossible not to touch him all over, and Wilhelm helps himself to his lean thighs, a handful of his ass. He curls his fingers in Jesper's mouth, taken in by the hollowing of his cheeks. After all this time, Jesper still has the power to render him speechless.
But not for long, not yet. He smiles into another kiss, sweetness edged with hunger.
"Bend over first. But don't stop looking at me, Jes."
Sometimes Jesper does feel like they're teenagers again, laughing and horny and touching like they can't get enough of each other. That's the sign of an eternal type of chemistry, when centuries later it can still sweep them up into it. He sucks on Wilhelm's fingers with all the eagerness he can muster but releases him to sink into a new kiss.
He turns around and puts his hands on the tree trunk, bending over pretty low so Wilhelm can get a really nice look at his offered ass that's his for the taking. He puts his feet a little apart so he's more open to whatever Wilhelm wants to do. "You could just slip right in if you wanted to." A wiggle of his ass playfully at Wilhelm. He knows he's going to get what he wants but sometimes he can be so impatient for it. It's a thrill every time, he never gets tired of it.
But he did listen to Wilhelm's request and looks over his shoulder at him, gray eyes fixed on Wilhelm's face. He can see Jesper's smirk and warm gaze underneath curly dark hair. The bronze dusting of his muscular body on full display for his lover. "My pretty, perfect Wille. I'd do anything you asked of me."
Wilhelm lets Jesper envelop him, and folds into him, because he needs it — the comfort of another's warmth, the reminder that he's not alone. It's not enough to stop hot tears from spilling out, but Jesper doesn't need to stop them. He just needs to make space for them.
"He should've had more time to figure out what he wanted. He should've had a choice."
His heart stings, knowing that Kelson would have chosen to return home. He made no secret of it. He had always wanted to go back to his kingdom, his duties, his royal cage. He found purpose in it, without which he felt unmoored. He didn't know who he was without his crown. And Wilhelm, he'd hoped to show Kelson that he could find purpose in this fresh start too. He wanted to be by Kelson's side while he learned who he could be outside of his mother's expectations.
Now, he's just gone.
"I couldn't help him," Wilhelm cries into his knees. "I couldn't help him. I couldn't make him happy."
As Jesper turns and poses himself against the tree, Wilhelm's hands stay on him, draping his hip, snaking around his waist to trace the jutting bone. He grants a playful little spank when Jesper wiggles his ass at him. He drags the weight of his gaze over his body and drinks him in. After all this time, he's still awestruck.
"Can you be patient for me, my love?" The question hums low in his throat, husky and honeyed.
Bringing his spit-slicked fingers to Jesper's entrance, he glides over the tight muscle without inserting himself yet. With desire heating his blood and hazing his brain, a part of him wants nothing more than to slide into Jesper and fuck him silly against the tree. But he knows how sweet it is to prolong this rush, to balance on the edge of release until the last possible second — and then plunge all at once into something fuller, deeper, breath-stealing.
So pulling Jesper's hips toward him, Wilhelm nestles his shaft against the cleft of his ass and thrusts into a slow rhythm. His cock, like his fingers before, glides over Jesper's entrance to tease him with friction.
Jesper pulls Wilhelm close to him and wraps him into his arms so he has all the comfort he physically can handle. It's not enough to stop the pain in his heart, but at least he knows he has someone he can lean on. Wilhelm cries and his heart hurts because there is nothing Jesper truly can do, but that's the reality of their situation. Sometimes all it can do is make you feel helpless. He can hold him, that is something he can offer.
It sounds like Kelson got what he wanted at heart, but that's not something helpful for Wilhelm to think about. It's better to focus on the what ifs because that is where the pain is and where the healing will eventually come from. Kelson might have created a life for himself here that he truly wanted and had time to experience it. That is possible. It's not what happened.
"You would have, love, in time you would have. You'd make anyone happy." They didn't have the time, which is cruel, but Jesper has no doubt that he's right. Wilhelm's love and support could change the life of a king. Jesper lifts his hand to caress through Wilhelm's sandy hair, as soothing as possible. "You gave him something beautiful while he was here." His heart, his body. Jesper knows if he was in Kelson's shoes, he would have been glad for that time, however short.
"No," Jesper whines at him pathetically. He hates being patient! But he's smiling still because he is feeding into Wilhelm's ego on purpose, letting him know how desperate he is for his cock that being patient sounds terrible. He lets the smile fade away to give him a pretty pout instead, jutting out his bottom lip as silver eyes stay on his face. "Why would you make me wait when you could have this sweet ass now?"
Jesper does nothing to actually get what he wants though, he's taunting to make them both happy. He sighs pleasantly when he feels Wilhelm's fingers at his entrance, excited to get them inside of him, except nothing happens. Jesper is almost permanently ready, he's incredibly easy to open up and slide inside. Preparation almost becomes pointless when it's a part of his identity.
Jesper groans out loud when Wille further torments him by putting his cock against where it should be, but tortures him instead of pushing in. "Oh you teasing bastard." That was downright cruel. He reaches back with his hands, unbalanced against the tree for a moment, to grip his cheeks and pull them apart, giving him such an open invitation there is no doubt what he wants. It makes it more difficult to slide between them for the friction though, giving him less to rub against, and a little bit of a trick.
"Wille, darling, please, look how much I need you." He's hard and his tip is wet, offering himself helplessly. Jesper could be more aggressive but he's playing the part of the desperate bottom, willing to do whatever it took to get fucked.
It hurts to wonder what might have been if they'd only had more time to grow it, and it hurts to imagine Kelson crammed back into royal life, obligated by duty to one day marry and have heirs and forget all about him. It hurts to face each morning, knowing that time will only take him farther away from Kelson and the days they shared.
Time will dull the hurt too. He knows this, because he used to cry over Simon and flay himself on daydreams about could've beens, until one day he realized he hadn't really thought about Simon in a little while, and then the name came only with a ripple of sadness instead of a whole tidal wave. But Wilhelm doesn't want to be healed, he wants to be loved, and be in love.
He grabs onto Jesper's arm, keeping him there. You gave him something beautiful while he was here. He holds onto that, hopes it's true.
After a little while, Wilhelm smudges away what's left of his tears and jokes in a small, hollow voice, "How come this is the longest lasting relationship I've ever been in?"
Wilhelm bites his lip as a grin breaks across his face. It's a game they play, Jesper throwing himself headlong into his impatience, trying to pull him in with him, and Wilhelm pretending he has the patience to resist. He lets Jesper get away with it for a moment, hitching his hips so that the head of his cock comes to rest against Jesper's hole.
But he still won't push in, and he grabs Jesper's hands to pin them against the tree. Rough enough to jolt him with excitement, gentle enough to avoid scraping his palms on the bark. The movement forces him flush against Jesper's spine, sweat and anticipation sticking them together.
"Be good," Wilhelm murmurs, brushing his shoulder blade with kisses. Messy, wet, hot with his breath. Slowly, he pushes his hips to keep teasing Jesper with the hard heat of his cock. A groan melts from his mouth against Jesper's bronzed skin as his desire burns hotter.
Jesper is lucky in his love life and he never takes it for granted, but part of that too is not putting all his eggs in one basket. But he knows how Wille feels about this, and how important it is to him. That's why he's not attempting to make any of this intimate, to kiss and soothe in ways that he knows have made Wilhelm feel better in the past, or distract him the same way. This is not something he can fix by being Wilhelm's lover, only by being his friend.
"Because you've been here a long time and you've grown up a lot, you were more ready for that type of relationship." And it won't be your last, he almost says, but he knows that Wilhelm isn't in a place when he can think about a new future. Jesper's certain he will find that love eventually, Wilhelm was made to be loved. He doesn't know anyone currently who would fit the bill, but there's no hurry.
"I know you feel lonely, but you do have friends here, people who care about you. It might not be enough, but I hope it's at least something." Jesper knows he's not the only one that Wilhelm has. It would be unhealthy if he was. Knowing he's not alone is the key to getting through this.
Jesper's breath catches when he feels Wilhelm at his entrance and he settles in anticipation for him to push inside. He waits a few excruciating seconds before realizing he's going to still be difficult. "Damn you." He swears under his breath but he doesn't push back to take the cock in purposely. It would be very easy. He could if he wanted to, but this is more about Wille deciding when and how. So he plays the game obediently.
He allows him to pin his hands too, doing as he's asking by gripping the bark instead of putting his fingers all over him. All of Jesper's actions speak to how good he's being, but he nods anyway to Wilhelm's question. "Yes, please, I'm being so good for you, can't you see?" It's not easy when Wilhelm is pressed up against him like that and he loves the mess, he loves the sweat. He moans and grips the tree, it turning into smoother wood underneath his fingertips, his powers coming out.
"Baby, please, Wille, I'll do anything." The music nearby seems to pick up as energy suffuses through the air, and dancing starts in earnest. They have their very own mood music and the sound of feet thumping on the ground in excitement. Jesper can't push back or he'll be forcing Wilhelm inside of him so he just keeps passive in position, but his heart is racing. "Fuck me, I'm begging."
By this he meant them — him and Jesper. His relationship with Simon imploded before it ever really got off the ground, and now his relationship with Kelson has been abruptly cut short, all after just a few fleeting months. Jesper has been a constant fixture in his life for almost two years now. A little more than friends but not quite love; even friends with benefits feels too flippant for how much Jesper means to him.
It's not like he wishes he could actually fall in love with Jesper. He doesn't have hundreds of years to stamp out the jealousy that would inevitably scorch him. Love would just make a huge mess of everything.
He just wishes there could be someone else who stays for once.
"I know." He rubs Jesper's arm to let him know he's not taking him for granted. "I know. Thank you, Jes."
That's one thing that's different this time: he's not alone. When Simon told him he didn't want to be anybody's secret, Wilhelm was left with nobody he could talk to about what he was carrying. Soon after, he found himself in Thorne, where he knew nobody and knew what to do even less. He'd never felt more alone in his life.
Watching Jesper come undone for him, unraveling as fast as the music that spins around the wedding celebration, collapsing to what beats at his core — raw desire, as breath-taking as any vein of crystal shot through rock — it lights something in Wilhelm. It sharpens his own wanting to an excruciating edge on which he can stay balanced only for so long.
As he rubs his shaft over Jesper's hole, treacherously sweet and slow, and he drags his palms along his bronzed arms, from wrist to crook to bicep, Wilhelm's desire too emanates out of him in waves of transfigurative power. Overhead, the leaves burst from late spring green to autumn reds and oranges. They fall off while still in the height of their brilliance, drifting around the wedding guests who exult in the miracle of it.
"Beautiful," he sighs into Jesper's shoulder. His hands are back on his hips, petting him, soothing him.
Taking him — finally bending to his pleas, Wilhelm pushes inside in one slow steady thrust. A groan rises up from somewhere deep. His breath sinks and swells as he settles into a rhythm, firm and full but not rushed. Not yet.
Jesper doesn't remember the first time they did this, it was so long ago, but he does know it's always been good. Their chemistry as friends and lovers is eternal and fiery. They can go from sweet and playful to passionate and intense at the snap of fingers, and there's nothing more special than a relationship that can bend in any way it needs. He knows that Wilhelm will give him what he needs and make him grateful for it. The anticipation is all that's left.
All he can do at first when Wilhelm first pushes inside is sigh in relief. It's pure heat, a fire equal to the one burning in his veins, and he squeezes around Wilhelm on purpose. Because otherwise he is relaxed as can be, getting what he wants, but he likes to tighten around him, to hold him snug and close. Jesper is so focused on their bodies that he misses the leaves at first, but when he opens his eyes to see them spinning toward the ground, he has to laugh. It is beautiful, these natural parts of their divinity in sync.
The relief turns into pleasure and the wood underneath his fingers turns into a different type of wood, into something heavier and solid. He goes between hisses of 'yes' and little moans as Wilhelm starts a nice pace, not demanding now he's full of his lover and fed by the second. "Mmmm, yes, Wille, I want your cock. I crave it." He sounds dreamy and delighted because he is, the act giving him more than physical sensation. It pours gasoline on him, the desire making him glow, glistening and bright, a pure light emanating from him.
"Fuck me like I'm the only thing you can see. Make me your world."
Their bodies were not made for each other, maybe, but they have molded to each other over time, like two trees that have grown side by side over the centuries, each one's branches making space for the other's. Although Wilhelm knows Jesper's body by heart — the contours of his limbs entwined with his own, the fit of his heat wrapped around him — this deep familiarity has never worn out the thrill of these moments they share.
It gets harder to talk as pleasure engulfs him, white-hot flames licking his insides. His breath sags into sweltering groans, his hips push hungrily against Jesper, and his fingers drift down the jutting V of bone to palm at his cock. The world narrows to Jesper, or Jesper amplifies to occupy the whole of the world. Everything else, the flurry of wedding revelers, the current of scarlet leaves, fades away at its edges.
"Jes—" Breathlessly, with eyelashes fluttering low. "I need you...to look at me."
The now naked branches stretching over them begin to bud again, soft green potential at their tips. With each thrust they swell bigger, until one starts to split, then another.
They're creating life in their own way right then. If it's not the giddiness in the air or the rise of laughter and lust, it's the tree morphing and growing right under their joined bodies. By the end of this joining, this tree will no doubt become sacred, the unnatural divinity of it hanging there long after the two of them are gone. A fertility tree, perhaps, or one for the lovelorn.
The transmutation continues under his fingertips as he holds onto the bark and turns it into a different tree type all-together, one that isn't even native to this part of the land. Jesper holds on as tightly as he can and he needs something thicker so he makes it, the wood going dark compared to the budding color and soft green Wilhelm's blending it with. Something beautiful. A little of Wilhelm, a little of him.
Wilhelm's inside of him and moving so perfectly and he groans, following his command to look over his shoulder, leaning back enough so Wilhelm can see his entire face. His eyes are glowing white, a contrast to dark smooth skin, and he smiles at him. "Wille, fill me up, let our divinity come together." It's a joining in more than just the physical, they can slide in and out of each other, their essences combined.
Jesper sets it off first, he comes and the air around them turns heavy, filled with gold light. There's a feverish energy around them, like dizzy spiraling, and while Wilhelm can make the branches change and the flowers bud, Jesper's all emotions outpour. It builds and builds until it bursts.
[It's not meant to be romantic, it's just Jesper being his usual charming self. And if anything, Wilhelm had started it, this toothless flirting. But still, nearly two months after he woke up in the crater and realized that Kelson was nowhere to found, it feels like leaning on an injured leg wrong. So he just...moves on in the conversation.]
Hell yeah. So I'm hearing you say it will be your treat?
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