sinbound. [Akira & Earinor] [ENG]

"I still owe you a reward, since I went back on my word before, but giving you a reward out here is kind of hard, you know?" Ronan wasn't even sure what to come up with - he had no idea what Caelan liked, had no memory or general recollection of what he could gift the blonde and yet he was the one who was supposedly not only corrupting his lover, but also spoiling him a tad bit too much. "You deserve that once in a while, though", the noble remarked, knowing well enough that both of them could need some spoiling, that it was perfectly fine for them to yearn for what they couldn't have. To praise Caelan was one thing, to spoil him another and yet, Ronan enjoyed all of it was more than he should, felt lie he'd left this world simply by laying his eyes onto the body before him and thinking too fast, too much about so many things he would want the blonde to do to him - so soon, yet so far away. Would it hurt if they rushed into it? Most likely. But it didn't matter, all that mattered was, that they would wind up enjoying themselves, enjoying one another and that was, in all honesty, nothing bad, even if it was a carnal sin against a god that yet had to prove he existed.

"So you like it when I'm all shy and embarrassed!?", he blurted out, yet he was almost bewitched by Caelans words. He cared him for him, liked him as he was - there was no need to hide himself behind a shell of anger and indifference, there was no need to try and pretend. The blonde would pry all of it open, break him out of his cage and tear off his shackles without even wanting to and he was left here, trying his best to help Caelan do the same and failing ever so often. Then, Ronan cooed and as he did, laughter broke from his lips. "I ... ah. Yes. Very much ... so, in fact", the noble stammered, got caught again and was happy enough to have the water almost submerge him, but ... he was even more happy that he could be here, alongside the blonde, take a swim and just enjoy the still cold lake under the glistening moonshine, far away from so many hungry eyes. Ronan wondered if a passerby would see them, their shadowy figures, and if they'd stare, on and on, while the two nobles did whatever they wanted. "Ever the energetic puppy", he remarked upon Caelans resurfacing and looked at the noble that was now right next to him - and still so incredible tall. "You'll win that one. But sure. What did you have in mind?"

"You think? That isn't a really convincing answer, you know?", Ronan couldn't help but snort. Was he that irresistible that Caelan could no longer contain himself by keeping his hands to himself, or was it all in good faith anyway and the two of them would have their fair share of awkward encounters from here on out? It didn't feel bad to be wanted if he was honest, it steered up something inside of him that Ronan wasn't aware of himself, but for now it sufficed to know that he was loved, cherished - that Caelan was there. "You're ... right. But I don't think anyone else ever really thought about spoiling you, or did they? What I was trying to say, I do like spoiling you already." Acceptance was a step in the right direction and the truth was that the two of them could use every bit of right direction that they could find - if anyone saw them like this, who cared? Ronan didn't, Caelan didn't and as long as it wasn't a fellow noble, his father would probably blow their life out like the flickering flame on a candle - swift and without mercy, because that was just who Darragh was and nobody stopped him, not even the king ... except, maybe he did.

"B-But I ... I'm ... well, fuck." Caelan had busted him - he wasn't strong, he wasn't confident and he wasn't always sour. Ronan was, in fact, easily to embarrass and shy overall. The scowl he wore on his face served to scare off potential new friends and also so that he could read in peace - yes, he was easy to anger and if he did get angry, he exploded like a bunch of fireworks, but all in all, he was nothing more than a tired and shy noble that didn't know the first thing about approaching others, or about social constructs. Once, when he was little, he might have known more, but back then - when basically everyone in the same age was ones friend - he probably wasn't even able to form a somewhat coherent thought, let alone understand abstract concepts like friendship. "You really do need the adrenalin", Ronan sighed, then set his eyes onto the reed over there and skimmed the water to find a way out of this - a way to be somewhat sneaky, but sadly, there was nothing like that close to him. "Alright. One." What were the even trying to do? Fool one another? "Two." Actually, he'd lose anyway, so why even try? "Three." Oh, no - he wasn't going to go down without a fight, even if it was a senseless one at that - he'd lose, but at least he could swim as fast and as far as he could while he was at it.

"Sadly you're at my mercy, boohoo Caelan, whatever shall you do?", he wasn't out to mock Caelan, but the tone of his voice was oddly high and the words itself felt like they'd been spoken with a pinch of salt, if anything. The truth was, as much as Caelan enjoyed annoying and embarrassing him, Ronan liked to make a fool out of the blonde, simply for entertainment purposes for himself - and who could blame him? This was nothing more than a puppy that needed a leash, a push in the right direction and now he was the unfortunate kitten that had ended up with said leash, so he'd make do, whether one of them wanted to or not. "Did I say something wrong?", he asked upon seeing his lovers reaction, uncertain what had just happened - was this truly what he should have done, or did he take it a step too far? Ronan was, as he'd been so many times in his life, not sure. Not that this would cause Caelan to hate him, let alone bring the blonde to cut ties with him, but maybe,just maybe, he should ... "If so, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Better he apologized now than later and then he never managed to, no? Though, something told him that wasn't it at all - this was something else and he should have shut up.

"Stop it or I'll bite you!", he wasn't lashing out, but being called cute was foreign, was something so alien that he didn't know if he could take it, if he could get his flared up cheeks to calm down and let the rosy color disappear from his face. Ronan of Alster was nothing more than an example of someone who'd utterly fail the role he had given himself and just because he had to have a stupid crush on this man, of all people. "You like teasing me! I got that! And no!", he puffed his cheeks - first his lover was annoying him, now he was teasing him and his best course of action was ... reacting like a little kid most likely would. Not that he cared all that much, but maybe - just maybe - Caelan had forgotten what he had told him earlier, that he wasn't used to all of this ... should he tell him? No, no - not now. "Do me good? Then I've eaten for nothing!", he laughed. Compared to Caelan, he could stand to eat and exercise just a bit more - he wasn't paperthin and he could hold a sword, he could fight and he could walk wherever he wanted - his body was just on the slimmer side as well as his appetite, whereas his love for books was outweighing the desire for adrenaline. Caelan trying to sabotage him was both unexpected and unwelcome - though, no reason to get mad. "Oh don't you dare!", he yelled, splashing a bit of water into the blondes direction. A lake really wasn't the right place to tickle him, unless Caelan wanted him to drown.

"You can't even avenge yourself when I haven't even done anything to you!", the young noble blurted out, already trying to come up with a multitude of things that he'd actually be able to do to the blonde - but nothing of that was appropriate or possible out here, at least not to the degree that Ronan wanted it to happen. Whatever would they do back at the hutch? Enough to satisfy their needs, to have some fun and then, eventually, their ways would have to part again - they had responsibilities to take care of and they, very much, couldn't stay together forever, no matter how much they wanted to. This here didn't need to be a rare event, but they'd probably be few and far between - and Ronan wouldn't be able to stand it, not a single second long. "Ah, I didn't mean to hit a weak spot but ... I'm glad you want to rely on me for that, you can have everything you want, I'll spoil you." Admittedly, Ronan wasn't aware what Caelan liked yet, but he'd figure that out sooner or later and when he did, he'd make sure to spoil his fellow noble like there was no tomorrow. For now, however, it sufficed to be here with him and get his hopes up, no?

"You're insufferable sometimes", Ronan sighed upon Caelans effortless attempt to quell his anger - it worked, somehow, but only because it was ridiculous and he himself knew that once someone had formed an opinion of him, it usually stayed like that. Caelans opinion seemed to be that he was a cute little kitten that didn't know how to help himself, so he'd need a push in the right direction - and yet, he was racing Caelan as best as he could by swimming through a damn lake and trying to reach for some reed. He didn't even think he'd win, he didn't even care if he won and yet his heart was racing, but before he got close enough, Caelan took over and was - in the end - the first one to tou- "Hey!" Again, he got hoisted up like he was nothing more than air, carried like a young noblewoman and Caelan even made a show of it so he could touch the reed first. His pride felt insulted, to say the least. "No, you do - I thought this was supposed to be fair and not you cheating twice", he grumbled, kissing the blonde back shortly thereafter. "I really need to tie you to your chair in the cabin, don't I?" Ronan sighed, but let himself be held like this, but he puffed his cheeks and crossed his arms - well, he was a spoiled brat and he wanted to lose or win the fair way, not like this.

"I said I was sorry I took so long! And I know! But I warned you beforehand that it will take a while until we're in Alster, well, not in Alster but at the hut!", he sighed. If they just went back to the manor, they wouldn't have a problem - they'd be there by tomorrow no problem, but the hut was in the opposite direction, on a slope, somewhere in the woods and the only good thing was that he always had the key with him. "To Alster? Yes. To the hutch? No", he answered truthfully. Once, when he had went to Olette with Darragh, he had the same idea and took off - it had taken him for what felt like forever to get there and their only luck was that they already had gotten pretty far. Another night, out here, exposed to nothing but moon and stars wasn't so bad, but if they camped outside in Alster, the temperatures were probably pretty horrible, at least for Ronan, who already had an issue with the mild temperatures out here. The thought alone sent a shiver down his spine - not a good one. "I ... alright. I'll take your word for it", he mused, content with what he'd heard just now - he wouldn't press Caelan on the matter for sure.

"No. I didn't even think I'd compare against you in any way. If you'd been fair, I wouldn't be mad at you", Ronan grumbled and kept averting his gaze for now. Caelan hadn't committed a grave mistake and he'd not be killed by his fellow noble, but he actually was mad - he hadn't won and this felt somewhat frustrating, especially being in Caelans arms, somehow. Maybe Darragh had been right, he was a disgrace to his name and he most certainly was nothing more than some skin and bones, barely being held together by his drive for justice - all of this gave him a headache. "You ... really don't need to", but his lover wouldn't listen anyway, would he? The truth was, they both had no idea of anything and the reality was that the blonde would just do whatever he wanted, wherver he wanted. Kisses all over and they didn't feel so bad, yet Ronan didn't want to give in to them. "And yet we just got into the water. Are you really scared that somebody will see us here?" Finally taking matters into his own hands, he unfolded his arms and bit his lovers collarbone. "Stop being such a worryward, I sucked you off when the doors were unlocked."

"That's one option I wouldn't be opposed to." He never stayed up the entire night - or at least most of it. Shouldn't they be well rested when they got to the hutch? Ronan had some cleaning to do for sure, but Caelan sounded like he couldn't endure it any longer that he was out here, somewhere in Lavern still and that Alster was still so far away from him. They both were desperate for some genuine privacy and Ronan knew that, in the end, they'd be there at some point - even if that took two whole days or more. Now, the blonde probably wouldn't be satisfied with an answer like that and truly, who could blame him? "And let everyone find out that their future duke likes to spend the night at some inn, together with another noble? Don't be silly, I don't want to kill my fathers business relationships immediately, that comes later", he summarized, but in truth, he'd have no problem staying in a warm bed in an inn - but he wasn't one to make decisions in that regard. One wrong person had to see them together and they'd run their mouth until some grotesque rumor would spread like wildfire - and then Darragh couldn't just execute each and every single one of them because they had ran their mouths.

"Nothing, and stop being sorry! Just play fair the next time, puppy." Caelan really was a puppy - he was easily excitable, never seemed to listen to commands all that much and overall pretty adorable - maybe he'd need his cheeks pinched for once? Not that it would help, but Ronan thought it'd look cute, yet refrained from even trying to do it. Instead, he enjoyed the warmth that Caelans body was emitting and didn't even realize that he'd be shacking ever so slightly up until now - his body really was a failure, wasn't it? No kiss would be able to take that away, let alone some nice words; he had insecurities of his own and that was alright, but some of them were just too much to handle sometimes. "Me? Look at you and ... uhm ... you were the one wanting to go for a swim!", he retaliated and couldn't believe himself that he just had said the first thing out loud - how stupid was he even!? And there he want, came crashing down because Caelan had let go of him and he was left in the water. "You know, if you wanna touch my ass, just do it", the noble remarked as he stood back up on his own and then, instead of hiding his body once more, just decided to stand there and look at Caelan like he'd said he wanted to. The pale moonlight wasn't something that suited him, but nontheless, it was something that made his wet skin glisten, that caused shadows to fall differently than usual and yet, this was still Caelan. "And a bed, and a fireplace and it wasn't cold - I get you. So we'll just ride through the night tomorrow if we can get some good sleep tonight. Alster is probably cold enough for you to not feel gross, so you should be fine - and if we don't take our time tomorrow, we should arrive sometime in the middle of the night. Then you'll get your reward."

It probably was dusty as all hell and knowing the shape the hutch usually was in, he'd might have to fix something sooner or later - and if it was another hole in one of the walls, then that was nothing new. These things tended to happen sometimes, just like the blood he spilled on the bedsheets and then didn't bother removing because they were still wet and he didn't want to raise suspicion. Whether or not it was a wise decision to ride through the entire night was something he'd see for himself, it couldn't be much worse than expected, though. "I didn't mean to insult you. What I'm saying is that it's too risky, but ... if we really want to take our sweet time, we could sleep at the manor for one day, though, then I'd have to introduce you to my father and he already loathes Allard, so I'd rather not tell him I'm going to the hutch with you of all people", Ronan himself sighed now, knowing fully well that if he actually stopped at home and Darragh caught wind, he'd make sure that Ronan was going nowhere, especially not with Caelan in tow, and definitely not to the cabin in the woods that he spend so much time in.

"Do you now? Save that for the hut, alright?" They both would feel better when they could hide away from the public eye, when the only had the fire of the fireplace illuminating their bodies when the curtains in the hutch even managed to block out the peskiest moonlight. Ronan liked to lay there, in the dark, enjoying the warmth that slowly crept toward the bed whenever the fireplace was alight and just enjoyed the silence he usually wouldn't have, simply because his parents were busy people and he should at least seem like he was busy, too. "Both, but hey, you get to see me naked too - we're even", he mumbled and showed the blonde his tongue just for a second - but before he could get close, the blonde already made his way back to the other side of the shore, pressumably to get out, dry off and then go to bed. "Your reward. In two days. But you need to sleep for that", Ronan laughed, swimming after the blonde. Never did he have so much fun just thinking about spending time with someone and somehow, he thought he understood Caelans frustration - if he could, he wanted to be at this damned hutch right now and not in two days. "Precisely. Then we're well rested tomorrow ... and you can have me sit on your horse and cuddle me all day long", Ronan smiled at Caelan and even if he hadn't agreed to that, he didn't even care.

"I wouldn't force you into anything, so don't worry. I'm not that keen on going home either, so it's just the two of us and your little, romantic makeshift bed out here and tomorrow it's going to be nothing. I hope we can just throw ourselves in the bed when we arrive at the cabin, but knowing this thing, I'll probably have to clean up first", he almost whiend, as if he hadn't been aware of some of the problems beforehand. Most of them were easy to ignore, especially those that didn't need immediate attention and Ronan, for once, was happy that he got to leave in a big mansion that had so many other people take care of it. The hut, however, barely belonged to anyone but him - yes, his actual father would drop by every once in a while, but when he did, he only stayed for a night at a time and then moved on, wandered the area and did what he could do best - be a handful. "Why? My father hasn't ever told me about it, but he was very adamant about me not befriending you or certain other nobles. I think he's just afraid that I'll rebel against him even more, or that you might be a bad influence, but that's some shit reasoning right there. Maybe my mother knows? I could ask."

What Darragh didn't know, Saoirse probably did - sometimes, people actually wanted to speak to the actual heir of the Alster bloodline and not to some earl that had recently taken up the mantle of duke because he got lucky and got to marry an esteemed duchess. Ronan himself knew that he disliked Darragh, maybe for all the wrong reasons, but who cared? "Quit whining or I'll make you." Trying to shush Caelan would probably be fruitless effort, but as long as he hadn't tried hard enough, he wouldn't know, now would he? Well, getting out of here and getting dried off, somewhat dressed and then cuddling with Caelan sounded too good to be true. "Then hurry up and dream something nice, too!" Finally, the water relinquished him sometime after Caelan who, try as one might, was now spoiling him, offering him a blanket and even wrapping him into it - Ronan was soaked and his body was shivering as he clutched the blanket a bit too tight around his own body before he began drying himself off. "Y-Yes", he mumbled - since when was it this cold in Lavern? "I wanna get dressed", he mumbled, stumbling past Caelan back to his clothes. At least some underwear would be fine, right?

Caelan kept talking, nothing that disturbed Ronan all that much - it was nice listening to him talk, not understanding a single thing of what was said - and that was, for the most part at least, fine. He was tired, just from talking and getting here, from taking a quick dive into the lake and now he wanted nothing more than to sleep and wake up tomorrow, sometime early. In reality, he had to face his dreams first, the fleeting but vivid feeling of being asleep and yet he barely noticed anything of it, barely dreamt about anything - but he didn't mind, not even when the darkness enveloped him and wasn't keen on letting him go anytime soon, that was for sure. Reality was, that he - of all people - was the one that got to lay in Caelans arms and he'd cherish it forevermore, as long as he could, forever if he was allowed to. All good things ended at some point, though, and that was something he was almost painfully aware of, even in his very dreams that only seemed to be a thin veil draped across his weary eyes, barely managing to hide anything away.

Once the warmth to his side shifted, Ronan started cuddling with the blanket to fill the hole that had been left behind - he wasn't awake, not yet, his body was just reacting on its own to keep itself warm and as much as he wanted it to, not everything sufficed. Truth be told, he wasn't even sure if there was a possibility for him to get his mind out of the gutter and let him do as he wanted to, there barely was anything that he could do - his body wasn't usually his to control, but right now, the faint rays of sunlight that already made their way through the trees woke him up, as well as the missing warmth. Even if it hadn't been Caelans intention, Ronan mumbled something and against better judgement tried to see if his body was willing to give it a go, stretched himself and tried to regain some feeling in those fingers of his, which - to his surprise - weren't all that far gone. Almost immediately after realizing that, he sat up and - as per usual - was rewarded with dizziness and his hair, stinking of lake water, being only half dry and hanging into his face. Once he had managed to get over the usual dizziness, his eyes searched for Caelan who was - ever so quietly - packing up. Against better judgement, Ronan helped himself on his legs, ever so carefully, and walked over to Caelan, hugged him from behind. "Good morning", he mumbled.